Braves’ Chris Sale Showed Off Incredible Reflexes With Catch of…..
Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Chris Sale showed off his cat-like reflexes during Monday’s start against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park. In the midst of a classic pitchers’ duel against the Giants’ Blake Snell (more on that in a moment), Sale made one of the defensive plays of the year. Facing Giants infielder Casey Schmitt with two outs and the basepaths clear, Sale delivered a fastball for strike one, then pounded the zone once again with his heater, an offering that Schmitt ripped right back to Sale. With a nanosecond to react, Sale stuck his glove out and snagged the 104-mph liner.
That has to be one of the toughest plays for a pitcher, but Sale, in a look-what-I-found-sort-of-way, made it look easy. Sale, who did not factor into the decision, pitched seven shutout innings, allowing just three hits while striking out 12. On the other side, Snell, who has come out of the All-Star break dealing, tossed 6 1/3 shutout frames, yielding just a pair of hits while punching out 11 batters.