Boston Red Sox ace Chris Sale will not pitch in Thursday’s Game 5 of the American League Championship Series because he is still weak from the stomach ailment that sent him to a Boston hospital on Sunday night.
Speaking before Game 4 on Wednesday against the host Houston Astros, Red Sox manager Alex Cora said Sale will pitch in Game 6, if necessary, on Saturday at Fenway Park.
Sale returned to the team Tuesday in Houston. The club hasn’t specified Sale’s ailment or treatment, though Cora had said previously it was nothing serious.
“This is what he said: ‘I’m good enough,'” Cora said Tuesday night after the Red Sox beat the Astros 8-2 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
When players for both teams were introduced before the first series game in Houston on Tuesday, Sale lined up with the Red Sox along the third-base line.
The seven-time All-Star started the series opener in Boston, but he missed Game 2 and didn’t travel with the team after being hospitalized.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.