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Sale was barely able to work between his first two starts of the year due to an illness, potentially explaining his steep velocity drop, Christopher Smith of MassLive.com reports.
Sale's fastball averaged just 92.8 mph in his first start of the season, but it dropped to 89.9 mph for his second outing. For a pitcher who battled shoulder inflammation late last season, it was easy to connect the dots and point to a possible recurrence of the same issue. The illness at least provides an excuse for his second outing and allays some of the worst fears about the lefty, but he still has a long way to go before he's back to his normal, dominant self. On an encouraging note, manager Alex Cora said that Sale had a normal bullpen session over the weekend in advance of his third start Tuesday against the Blue Jays, per Alex Speier of The Boston Globe.
