The Red Sox face their old Ace tonight in Atlanta.
It’s going to be an interesting night at Truist Park this evening as Chris Sale — the man who has been the main character of the Red Sox for the past four years despite barely taking the mound (though, actually, his absence made his influence on the Sox roster construction even greater in a way) takes on his old team for the first time. While most Red Sox fans were happy to leave the Chris Sale era behind, his teammates sound like they really miss him. (Peter Abraham, Boston Globe)
Meanwhile, Sale himself sounds just as excited to face his former teammates. (Jason Ounpraseuth, NESN)
But Chris Sale never got to play with Naoyuki Uwesawa, nor will he get to play against him. The pitcher was sent back to Worcester to make room for Nick Pivetta, while Zach Short was also DFA’d in favor of Romy Gonzalez. (Chris Cotillo, MassLive)
The other half of the deal, of course, was Vaughn Grissom. And for what it’s worth, Braves front office sounds like they miss him, too. (Rob Bradford, WEEI)
After Pivetta, expect to see Brayan Bello back this weekend, followed shortly thereafter by Garrett Whitlock. Josh Winckowski had already been bumped back to the bullpen, with Cooper Criswell sticking around for at least one more turn through the rotation. (Chris Cotillo, MassLive)
Luckily, the pitching injuries haven’t forced the Sox to give Rich Hill a call. He’s busy, anyway, coaching little league in Milton. (Ian Browne, MLB.com)
For all of Chris Sale’s bizarre injuries, he did manage to avoid having his arm broken by JD Martinez. Unfortunately, Wilson Contreras can’t say the same thing. (Nick O’Malley, MassLive)