Red Sox lefty Chris Sale 'a full go' for Game 1 vs. Yankees

BOSTON — A testament to the ease with which the Red Sox sorted through the six-month regular season: For the final third of that schedule, they were able to nurse Chris Sale, the best pitcher on the team and perhaps in the American League, so he’d be just right for Friday.

And he is. Or so the Red Sox said Thursday, a day before Game 1 of the American League Division Series against the Yankees.

“He’s a full go,” manager Alex Cora said.

Said Sale, “We have had enough time and luckily, the way my team has played — our everyday players, our lineup and the other guys on my staff and the bullpen — have allowed me to be able to get back to where I need to be and take that time off when I needed it.”

The problem for Sale, officially: mild left shoulder irritation. He landed on the disabled list July 31 for about two weeks, came back to make one start, went back on the DL for a few weeks and used September as a pseudo spring training. The games’ scores and his results were not as important as stretching him out and making him “a full go” for October.

Sale (2.11 ERA, 0.86 WHIP) accomplished that, but the results — which, again, were secondary — didn’t inspire confidence. His fastball velocity dropped with each September start, and his 90.2-mph average in his last outing (according to Brooks Baseball) was his lowest of the season. The last time Sale pitched, Sept. 26 against the Orioles, he needed 92 pitches to get through 4 2⁄3 innings and allowed three runs.

Cora said Sale can throw about 100 pitches Friday. Sale said he believes he can be effective even if his fastball is down significantly from its 95.8-mph standard on the year.

“If I take the mound, I expect to win,” he said. “I don’t care what I have on a given day. I should be able to find a way with whatever I have. Sometimes you go out there and you have your best, sometimes you don’t. This is sport. This is baseball. You have to find a way with whatever you have on any given day.”

To Cora, the key to beating the Yankees, who broke the single-season record with 267 home runs, is to keep them in the ballpark. That makes Sale a good match. This season, he allowed only 0.63 home runs per nine innings; among qualified pitchers, only the Mets’ Jacob deGrom (0.41) and the Indians’ Trevor Bauer (0.47) allowed homers at a lower rate.

The only other postseason start in Sale’s career came a year ago Friday, when the Astros — with Cora as their bench coach — rocked him for seven runs in five innings.

A bad first experience seems not to rob the second go-around of any hype for Sale.

“This is everything we show up for,” he said. “This is the late nights, the early mornings, the travel. Everything that we’ve collectively — coaching staff, medical staff, players, front office — have put ourselves through this entire year, it’s now, and we’ve got to go.

“I mean, what else do you want? You got the Yankees and the Red Sox in the playoffs playing against each other. One of the biggest rivalries in sports ever. It’s what we signed up for.”