Chris Sale ejected from Yankees-Braves finale before it begins

Gary Phillips, New York Daily News on Aug 9, 2026

Published in Baseball

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NEW YORK — Chris Sale didn’t see a single pitch from the dugout during the Atlanta's 10-inning, 2-1 win over the New York Yankees on Sunday, as the Braves’ ace earned himself an ejection before the series finale even began.

The Cy Young winner was tossed by Dan Merzel as the third base umpire and the rest of the umpiring crew took the field. Yankees starter Cam Schlittler was still finishing his first-inning warmups.

Sale, who was never going to pitch on Sunday, was presumably still angry after Merzel called a balk on the lefty in the fifth inning of Saturday’s contest. With the game tied at two, Spencer Jones on third and Austin Wells up, Merzel, working home plate, determined that Sale’s right leg twitched before informing the umpire that he was going to pitch from the windup. That call brought in the go-ahead run.

It also enraged Sale and Braves manager Walt Weiss. After several minutes of arguing, the latter was ejected from what became a 5-4 Yankees win.

Per MLB.com’s Bill Ladson, Weiss said that Sale told the umpires he was going to pitch out of the windup when José Caballero stepped up to the plate before Wells. Sale is considered a hybrid pitcher — his foot placement makes it unclear if he’s going to pitch out of the windup or stretch — so he has to declare if he’s going to pitch out of the windup with runners on. He did not do that before the Wells at-bat.

“Chris Sale failed to declare that he was going to pitch out of the windup for the second batter and he’s required by rule to make that declaration as a hybrid pitcher,” crew chief Dan Bellino told a pool reporter, per The Associated Press.

“Hybrid pitchers are held to a different standard because you can’t tell what they are based on their foot placement at the start,” Bellino added. “It needs to be very clear. It’s not something that we can assume.”

Sale, who ultimately allowed three earned runs over six innings, didn’t want to discuss the rule in depth with reporters on Saturday. However, it looked like he wanted to share a few thoughts on it with Merzel and Bellino on Sunday before getting a pregame hook.

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