The Braves borrowed a page from the Marlins on Thursday night, and they did it with Chris Sale in the middle of a win-or-go-home game.
Sale came out of the bullpen in the top of the eighth against the Phillies, stepping into a short relief role that looked a lot like the kind of experiment Miami had recently floated with Sandy Alcantara. Atlanta was already ahead 6-2 when the move happened, and the moment still landed with some punch in Truist Park.
“Annnnd Chris Sale is in the game. Truist got LOUD when that bullpen door opened. Two outs in the 8th and Bryce Harper is up to bat, with Atlanta holding a 6-2 lead,” Braves Today’s Lindsay Crosby wrote.
The setup traces back to Miami, where the Marlins were trying out something unusual late in the season. With their playoff odds hanging by a thread, they used Alcantara in a relief spot on what would normally have been his light bullpen day. Alcantara, who had already worked more than 200 innings this season, had not been in a save situation all year before that opportunity came.
“Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara has pitched more than 200 innings this season. None of them came in a save situation -- until Wednesday night.
With the Marlins clinging to faint playoff hopes, Alcantara came out of the bullpen for the first time in nine years and closed a 4-3 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Just two days after throwing 101 pitches in a no-decision at Arizona, the 31-year-old right-hander worked a scoreless ninth inning for his first major league save
The idea behind it was simple enough: use starters in games on the days they would normally be doing bullpen work instead of keeping them out of action entirely. Miami had been looking into the approach, and Sun Sentinel’s Alanis Thames reported that the club could keep exploring it.
“As for Alcantara, while his relief-inning usage late in the season was in part out of necessity because of injuries in Miami’s bullpen, Bendix said the Marlins may explore continuing to use him and other starters in late-inning situations going forward,” Sun Sentinel’s Alanis Thames wrote.
That’s the backdrop for what Atlanta did with Sale. The Braves were in the postseason, so the calculus was always going to be different.
Still, the timing stood out. A few weeks after Miami introduced the concept to the baseball world, Walt Weiss was willing to send his ace out for a five-run lead and a late-inning matchup against Bryce Harper.
Playoff baseball brings out all kinds of aggressive moves, but this one felt like it had a little Miami in it.
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