The two most important numbers for Chris Sale are directly related, in that if one is high, the other is probably low. The most successful version of Sale—the one that is a perennial Cy Young candidate and earned him a World Series ring and a $150 million contract extension—has a fastball that hums along at 95 mph and an ERA that subsequently sits south of 3.00.
The 2019 version of Sale, though, carried into Tuesday’s tilt with the Yankees both a bloated 9.00 ERA in 13 innings across three starts and a four-seamer that sputtered along at a pedestrian-for-him 91.