Braves Veteran Lefty Named NL Pitcher of the Month by MLB

Chris Sale had one of the greatest runs by an Atlanta Braves pitcher in the last twenty-five years across the month of May.

Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Chris Sale went 5-0 with a 0.56 ERA in the month of May. / Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

The Atlanta Braves didn’t have a great month of May, but it could have been worse. 

The team went 13-14 in the month of May, and those wins that came were largely due to the efforts of the lefties in the rotation - the Braves went 8-2 in games starter by one of the duo of Max Fried and Chris Sale, quality work that led to the team naming them the “Strong Arm” Co-Pitchers of the Month for May over the weekend. 

The recognition has kept coming with the news that MLB has named Chris Sale the National League’s Pitcher of the Month for May. 

The 35-year-old lefty went 5-0 in the month, striking out forty-five batters against only two walks. He put up a 0.56 ERA, thanks to allowing only two earned runs in his thirty-two innings. Those runs came in the first and last starts of the month for Sale, with the lefty having a three-game scoreless streak in between that reached twenty-one total innings. That was good for the seventh-longest streak in MLB this season, led by the 33-inning streak put up by Ranger Suárez of the Philadelphia Phillies.  

Per the team’s communications department, Sale’s streak of seven straight wins, dating back to mid-April, was the longest streak by a Braves starter since Russ Ortiz had eight straight winning decisions during the 2003 season. 

With the offensive struggles of Atlanta’s lineup this season, the team’s success has been thanks to the shutdown pitching. The four regulars in the lineup, Sale, Fried, Reynaldo López, and Charlie Morton have combined for twenty wins across their forty-three starts this season, with the team going 27-16 in those games.