The Atlanta Braves pushed back All-Star left-hander Chris Sale's start a day, setting up a great pitching matchup against Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander Zac Gallen on Tuesday night in Phoenix.
Sale (11-3, 2.71 ERA) is tied for the major league lead in wins. Gallen (6-4, 3.06) finished third in National League Cy Young Award balloting last season.
Sale was listed to start Monday, but the Braves removed him four hours before the first pitch in favor of right-hander Bryce Elder. Elder was promoted from Triple-A Gwinnett, and he threw five-plus innings of three-run ball.
“We made the decision to bring Bryce in so all those guys could get an extra day before the (All-Star) break,” Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said of the rotation.
The Braves are looking for their fourth consecutive win after earning a 5-4, 11-inning victory Monday in the first game of the four-game series.
Arizona was one step away from victory in the ninth when Atlanta's Sean Murphy hit a two-run blast 431 feet to right-center off Paul Sewald.
“I hit a homer, but my thought was just to get the next player to step up and see what happens,” Murphy said. “It went in my favor and went out of the ballpark.”
It was the third straight start for Sewald, but Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said the right-hander will remain the club's closer.
“He made some really good pitches to get to that point and then made some mistakes,” Lovullo said of Sewald, who made his first 11 save opportunities before struggling recently. “Some things went wrong, and good teams will take advantage of that.
“I'm still shaking my head — two-out homers don't happen very often. But it's been happening to us lately.”
The loss caused the Diamondbacks to fail to finish above .500 for the first time since April 3.
Sale, 35, has revived his career this season and ranks sixth in the majors in strikeouts (127) and eighth in ERA. He was named to the All-Star team for the eighth time in his career.
Sale made the American League All-Star team in seven consecutive seasons from 2012-18 — starting in each of the last three seasons — before injuries derailed his career. The biggest setback was undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2020, which caused him to miss that entire season and the first four-plus months of the 2021 season.
He won a total of 11 games from 2021-23, then was traded to Atlanta by the Boston Red Sox in December. A week later, the Braves gave him a two-year, $38 million contract extension.
“To be in this position, to have a team take a chance on me, it wasn't an easy thing – I say that because it was like that before,” Sale said.
Sale has allowed two runs or fewer in 11 of his last 12 starts. His worst outing came on June 1 against the Oakland Athletics, where he allowed eight runs in four innings in a no-decision.
Sale is 2-0 with a 2.53 ERA in three career games (two starts) against Arizona. He beat the Diamondbacks on April 7 when he allowed two runs and four hits in 5 1/3 innings of a 5-2 home win.
Randal Grichuk (6 of 20) hit two homers against Sale. Arizona All-Star second baseman Ketel Marte is just 1-for-12 with homers against him.
Gallen will be playing for the third time in the season after missing nearly a month with a hamstring injury.
He beat the Athletics on June 29, when he gave up just one hit in six scoreless innings. He wasn't as sharp Thursday, giving up three runs and four hits in four innings in a no-decision against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Gallen's record in four career starts against Atlanta is 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA. Austin Riley (4-for-10), Ozzie Albies (4-for-11), Orlando Arcia (1-for-5) and Matt Olson (2-for-12) all have hit home runs against Gallen. Riley hit a solo blast in the Braves' win on Monday.
–Field Level Media
