Winning the National League Cy Young Award for the second time in three seasons would be nice. But the determination Chris Sale has shown while recently matching up against three of MLB’s other elite starters has been a product of his desire to win another World Series. Sale kept himself in the thick of the Cy Young race and again proved to be a big-game pitcher in a 5-2 win over the Phillies in the opener of a key four-game series on Friday night at Citizens Bank Park. His effort helped Atlanta (84-57) gain a five-game lead over second-place Philadelphia (79-62) in the NL East race. “First game of a big series, having him on the mound, it's what you want,” manager Walt Weiss said. “He never disappoints. He goes out there and he's great, basically every time out.” Coming off a shutout against the Dodgers, Sale struck out seven and limited the Phillies to two runs over six innings. His 2.10 ERA ranks second among NL pitchers, trailing only Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski’s 1.97 ERA. With just a few regular-season starts remaining, there’s a chance Sale could still overtake Misiorowski for the ERA title. But he’s more focused on doing whatever he can to ensure the Braves stay ahead of the Phillies and also stay in the hunt to gain one of the two NL byes. “It’s crunch time,” Sale said. “You’ve got to win games from here on out. Just getting getting off on the right foot, winning game one of any series, you know, let alone a four-game series, it's big. I just want to do my part.” Sale stands with Spud Chandler (2.10 in 1946), Roger Clemens (1.53 in 2005) and Justin Verlander (1.78 in ‘22) as the only pitchers who have posted a 2.10 ERA or better through the first 25 starts of an age-37+ season in the Live Ball Era (1920).
