PORTLAND, Maine — EDITOR'S NOTE: The video above is from our reporting on June 22, when Sale pitched a bullpen session at Hadlock Field.
Boston Red Sox ace Chris Sale is expected to make a rehab start for the Portland Sea Dogs on Tuesday, July 20.
The lefthander made his first rehab start in Florida on Thursday, allowing four hits and striking out five across three scoreless innings.
"The plan is for him to go to Portland for the next one, which is Tuesday if I'm not mistaken," Red Sox manager Alex Cora said during a press conference Thursday.
Tuesday's game is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Hadlock Field. The Sea Dogs will be playing the Harrisburg Senators.
Sale played a key role on the Red Sox team that won the 2018 World Series but has had little to celebrate since. He underwent Tommy John surgery on March 30, 2020, which also happened to be his 31st birthday.
"I'm appreciating days at this point I'm appreciating. Waking up the next day, and you know my arm feeling good you know we're feeling sore and all the right spots in and things like that so she has it," Sale said after he threw a bullpen session at Hadlock in mid-June . "I'm taking it day by day that's what's the best for me right now."
He had a rocky 2019 campaign after a dominant 2018 season in which he went 12-4 with a 2.11 earned run average and 237 strikeouts. If he's able to return healthy this season, he could play a key role for this year's Red Sox team, which currently sits at the top of the American League East division.
Sale has a $30 million salary this year and next, and $27.5 million each in 2023 and 2024 as part of a $160 million, six-year contract that includes $10 million each season deferred for 15 years.