Chris Sale beats Snell, Atlanta Braves take overtime win

The Atlanta Braves hold the San Francisco Giants at bay at the start of their series with a 1-0 win in 10 innings.

In the close game, Braves starter Chris Sale, who is competing for the National League Cy Young Award this season, defeated reigning Cy Young winner Blake Snell to keep the Braves in the game to win it.

After a shaky start in the first inning, Sale threw seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits, no walks and 12 strikeouts.

His 12 strikeouts were a season high. Sale also struck out 16 batters in a row between the first out of the second inning and two outs in the seventh inning.

Breaking this streak of hitters required more than clean pitching. Austin Riley made up for an earlier error with a dive, and Sale grabbed a liner with two outs in the fifth inning to end the inning.

Sale remains in with a strong chance of winning his first Cy Young Award as he is coming off a renaissance season. His 2.61 ERA is the best in the National League and his 0.97 WHIP is second only to Tyler Glasnow’s 0.95. His opponent average of .205 is fifth best.

His 22 starts and 134 2/3 innings pitched so far are already his best since 2019 – Comeback Player of the Year? That’s also a good choice.

Meanwhile, Snell was a good pitcher himself, throwing 6 1/3, allowing two hits and three walks, and recording 11 strikeouts.

What was a breath of fresh air in modern baseball (insert joke about the band of the same name here) was that both starters threw over 100 pitches each in their efforts. Sale threw 107 and Snell threw 114 – the same number he needed to throw a no-hitter 10 days earlier.

The Braves scored the only run of the night in the 10th inning when catcher Travis d’Arnaud brought shortstop Orlando Arcia home on a sacrifice fly.

The bullpen redeemed itself with three scoreless innings. Joe Jimenez, who played a role in Sunday’s loss to Colorado, did his job in the eighth inning, while Raisel Iglesias struck out four batters in two hitless frames to end the game.

Inhale. Exhale. Repeat as many times as necessary to lower your heart rate and blood pressure until your next game.

There was a duel between the pitchers, some nice defensive plays, and the Braves started the series on the right foot.

Not only did the Mets drop the Giants by one game, but they also suffered their third straight loss, giving the Braves a one-game lead over the third wild-card spot.

The Braves continue their series against the Giants on Tuesday night, with Charlie Morton looking to rebound when he takes the mound against Giants left-hander Kyle Harrison. First pitch is scheduled for 9:45 p.m. on the East Coast.