BOSTON — There was Chris Sale on Friday night — not the Sale with arms raised in triumph after finishing off the Dodgers to give the Red Sox a World Series championship in 2018, but the Sale who has been mostly ordinary or injured in the five years since.
Sale made just his 30th start in the last three years in the Red Sox’ 3-2 win over the White Sox, who traded him in a blockbuster during the winter meetings before the 2016 season.
He delivered the Red Sox that 2018 title, leaving no dispute about who won the trade. A World Series is a World Series.
And an underwhelming return is an underwhelming return. The White Sox got third baseman Yoan Moncada, then ranked the No. 1 prospect in baseball, and Michael Kopech, the Red Sox’ best pitching prospect, in a package of four minor-leaguers. It was the first of three trades for prospects that prompted then-general manager Rick Hahn to promise multiple championships on the South Side. But one division title and two quick ousters from the postseason later, Hahn and executive vice president Ken Williams have been fired.
Kopech’s terrible season ended Friday in Oak Brook, where he had a cyst removed from his right knee. He has failed to establish himself as a top starter in the rotation.
Moncada had one very good season in 2019 and a decent one in 2021. He’s at least finishing strong this season after dealing with back problems that have limited him to 87 games in the second-to-last year of a $60 million contract that will pay him $25 million in 2024. But manager Pedro Grifol wants much more.
“He’s played really good baseball, but there is another level to him, too,” Grifol said before the game. “It’s our job and my responsibility to make sure we tap into that level. Those have been our conversations with him, especially mine. I have them frequently. I actually had one today on that.”
Batting second against Sale, Moncada lined a single to left in the first inning, staying hot after entering .323/.362/.546 with six homers, 11 doubles and 22 RBI in his previous 36 games.
“He is so [darn] talented that we have to tap into, and he has to tap into, that little extra that he’s got in there to become one of the best players in baseball, which, he’s got that type of talent,” Grifol said.
Sale, one of the best starters in White Sox history when he was there from 2010 to 2016, has never been short on talent. He struck out seven over five scoreless innings and left with a 1-0 lead and a 4.42 ERA.
Now needing to win five of their last eight games to avoid a 100-loss season, the White Sox (58-96) got 6⅓ innings of one-run ball from Touki Toussaint, but the Red Sox (76-78) got two runs in the eighth against Bryan Shaw and Garrett Crochet (0-2), the latter making his first appearance since June 15 after coming back from shoulder inflammation. Adam Duvall’s sacrifice fly tied it, and Masataka Yoshida’s single scored the go-ahead run.
The White Sox fell behind 1-0 when Trevor Story beat out a grounder to shortstop Tim Anderson leading off the fifth and eventually scored on Ceddane Rafaela’s sacrifice fly. Anderson took too much time getting the throw off, and it cost him.
“I know Story did get down the line, but I know Tim makes that play nine out of 10 times,” Grifol said. “Normally when guys take that extra step, they don’t have a grip on it.”
Against Red Sox reliever Garrett Whitlock, the White Sox scored two in the sixth on Andrew Vaughn’s RBI single and Trayce Thompson’s RBI double. Luis Robert Jr. got the inning started with a single and his 18th and 19th stolen bases as he closed in on becoming the second White Sox player, along with Magglio Ordonez in 2001, to have 30 homers, 30 doubles and 20 stolen bases in a season.
