Sale Silences Giants as Braves Take Opener

Sammy Linedriv - TABL Beat Writer

For a moment, it felt like the Giants had stolen the script. Jose Altuve, second pitch of the day, turned on a Chris Sale fastball and sent it screaming into the left-field bleachers. One swing, one roar, and suddenly the visiting dugout was on its feet and the Buffalo crowd was silent.

But that was it. That was all New York would get, one swing and a memory.

From there, Chris Sale took over. The veteran left-hander turned in the kind of performance that makes October baseball look effortless, nine innings, two hits, nine strikeouts, and a finish so clean it felt rehearsed.

After a shaky second inning that saw a walk and a single, Sale simply stopped missing. He retired the final sixteen Giants in order, his fastball painting corners and his slider darting like a trick of light.,

“You could tell after that first inning he wasn’t giving them anything else,” “That’s our guy. He just locked in.”,

Buffalo’s offense did its part early. In the second inning, Christian Yelich sent a line drive into the right-field seats, a no-doubter that flipped the mood and the scoreboard. A few pitches later, Alec Bohm joined in, crushing a solo shot to left-center that made it 3–1 Braves. Bryson Stott added a fourth run in the fourth inning, driving in Willy Adames after a pair of Giants miscues kept the inning alive.

New York starter Logan Webb never settled in. He battled his mechanics through 3⅓ innings, allowing five hits and four runs (three earned) before handing the ball to the bullpen. The relievers kept Buffalo quiet, but by then, Sale had turned the game into a closed book.

When the ninth inning rolled around, he looked fresher than when he started, slicing through the heart of the Giants order with a strikeout, a popup, and a grounder that ended the afternoon the same way it began: with Sale on top.

Buffalo took Game 1, 4–1, and sent a message as clear as the autumn air, if Sale’s on the mound, the road through the National Conference might just run through the shores of Lake Erie.

Final Line:

Team	R	H	E
New York Giants	1	2	2
Buffalo Braves	4	6	0

Winning Pitcher: Chris Sale (1–0) Losing Pitcher: Logan Webb (0–1) HR: Altuve (NY), Yelich (BUF), Bohm (BUF)