In a surprise decision, the Puerto Rican manager of the Boston Red Sox, Alex Cora, announced Thursday that left-hander Chris Sale will be Boston’s starter for Game 1 of the Championship Series. in the American League against the Astros on Friday at Minute Maid Park.
Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi will take the mound for the second match.
Sale pitched just one inning in Game 2 of the LA Division Series against the Rays, in which he allowed five runs and four hits. However, Boston is betting on a revival of its ace. Cora sent him to warm up to the bullpen in Game 4 of the ALDS and said Sale would have come out as a reliever if Boston had gotten into the ninth bracket with the lead.
“It feels comfortable,” Cora said Wednesday. “I had a conversation with someone today and it was music to my ears, because they said, ‘He found something in the bullpen.’
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