Boston Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale was captured on video Wednesday angrily trashing the locker room following a rehab start with the Triple-A Worcester Red Sox.
Sale appeared to rip something off the wall and kick it, leaving debris on the floor:
It appears that Chris Sale was not happy with his rehab start performance tonight 😳<br><br>(h/t <a href="https://twitter.com/AlyshaNBCBoston?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AlyshaNBCBoston</a>) <a href="https://t.co/3xbfg4vxVR">pic.twitter.com/3xbfg4vxVR</a>
Per Alysha Palumbo of NBC10 Boston, Sale's frustration may have stemmed from allowing a bases-loaded walk, leading to him getting pulled from the game after 3.2 innings.
Sale struggled with his control, surrendering five walks, three hits and one earned run while striking out five during his outing against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.
That marked the 33-year-old Sale's fourth and possibly final rehab start before rejoining the Red Sox at the major league level.
In his four rehab starts, Sale pitched 11.1 innings, posted a 2.38 ERA and 1.50 WHIP, and struck out 19 batters.
Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom was asked about the video during an appearance on The Greg Hill Show on WEEI 93.7 in Boston, and he said:
"I did see the video. I have not talked to anybody, including Chris, about that, but I did see the video. Look, I'm not going to sit here and condone property damage, but he is a competitor. That's who he is. There are plenty of guys, including somebody we all love who is going into Cooperstown later this month who has been caught on tape doing stuff like that when they're frustrated during a ballgame. It happens; it probably happens more than people think and with guys that you might never suspect. So, it's never something that we condone, but there's a lot of passion in this game, and when you have someone who holds himself to as high a standard as Chris does and who cares as much as he does, sometimes that passion is going to express itself in different ways."
Sale suffered a stress fracture in his ribs before the start of the 2022 season, forcing him to begin the year on the injured list. He hasn't pitched at all for the Red Sox this season after missing the entire 2020 campaign and making just nine starts last season because of injury.
When healthy, Sale has long been one of the best starters in baseball, dating back to his time with the Chicago White Sox from 2010 to 2016 before getting traded to Boston.
He is a seven-time All-Star with six finishes of fifth or better in the American League Cy Young voting to his credit. He also helped lead the Red Sox to a World Series title in 2018.
Boston could greatly benefit from Sale's arrival, as the Red Sox enter Thursday's game against the New York Yankees tied for second place in the AL East at 45-37, 14 games behind the first-place Yanks.
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