SAN FRANCISCO – The Sale-Snell duel lived up to expectations. The two experienced left-handers battled it out on a cool, windy night near San Francisco Bay. It was classic pitching dominance and for the Atlanta Braves, it was a must-win game in mid-August.

Blake Snell had 11 strikeouts and held the Braves hitless until the seventh inning, but Chris Sale was more efficient and just as dominant, not allowing a single San Francisco Giants walk and recording a season-high 12 strikeouts in seven innings in the Braves’ 1-0 10-inning victory to kick off a four-game series that is more important than anyone would have expected just a few weeks ago.

“We all knew yesterday was going to be tough,” Sale said of Sunday’s series finale in Colorado, where the Braves led 8-2 before the Rockies scored seven runs in the eighth inning in one of Atlanta’s most devastating regular-season losses in recent memory. “We had to get this over with quickly, and coming here we knew we had to win this game. Obviously, it was a tough battle from the start.”

Travis d’Arnaud hit a pinch-hit sacrifice fly in the 10th inning on Monday to score the only point in a game between teams battling for the final spot in the NL wild-card standings. Braves closer Raisel Iglesias had four strikeouts in the final two perfect innings to earn the win.

Iglesias pitches a perfect 10th inning with two strikeouts and the #Braves won 1-0, just their second win in nine games. Chris Sale was absolutely dominant and couldn’t get a decision, but the Braves got a much-needed win against a team they are competing with for a wild-card spot.

— David O’Brien (@DOBrienATL) 13 August 2024

But for most of the evening, Sale was the only one, taking 20 of 21 batters out of the game after the first two arrived in the first inning, and Snell, the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner who threw a no-hitter on Aug. 2. Snell has a 0.99 ERA, 60 strikeouts and a .097 opponents’ batting average in seven starts since returning from the injured list. Sale and Snell have combined for the most strikeouts (23) by two starters in a game at the ballpark since it opened in 2000.

“I mean, he didn’t throw anywhere,” Giants right fielder Mike Yastrzemski said of Sale, who threw 77 strikes on 107 pitches, a season high, and had multiple strikeouts against four batters, including Yastrzemski. “And when he did, it wasn’t over the plate. Going up against a guy with an arm position that none of us are used to, it’s really tough when there are no throws over the middle of the plate.

“Sometimes you have to take your hat off. He pitched a great game. They worked just as hard as we did.”

Snell had 11 strikeouts with three walks in 6 1/3 innings on Monday and did not allow a hit until Marcell Ozuna’s leadoff double in the seventh inning.

Of Snell and Sale, Iglesias said through an interpreter: “They’re the best in the league. And as for Chris, he was great out there. His performance also deserved a great performance and a call out of the bullpen. … I think as a team we’ve already overcome (Sunday’s loss), closed a chapter and moved on, and I think Sale’s performance tonight really got us going.”

His teammates and Braves manager Brian Snitker thanked the 35-year-old left-hander for making up for an error by center fielder Ramón Laureano, who hit a Tyler Fitzgerald fly ball to first in the first inning. He followed that with a single by Mark Canha before Sale knocked out the next three runs, including two strikeouts, and left runners on the field.

“We kind of put him in a bind there,” Snitker said, calling that first-inning outburst the most impressive part of Sale’s performance. “That could have been the defining moment. And what he did from there was pretty impressive, as was Iggy. (Sale) was really, really good. It’s a big win, especially after yesterday.”

“The first inning was great,” said Braves catcher Sean Murphy. “Chris went out there and made his throws, he battled like he always does. Yeah, I hope the fans enjoyed that. Those were two studs going at it. They got it done for their teams. It was fun.”

The Giants sent four or fewer batters to the plate in the second through seventh innings against Sale.

“He threw seven, and that’s probably why they won the game,” Snell said. “You’re always competing with the other starter to get as far as you can.”

The Braves had lost seven of eight games before Monday and 14 of their last 21, dropping to four games behind Arizona and San Diego and just 1 1/2 games ahead of the Giants in the wild-card standings. With three games left in the series, the Braves were back to 2 1/2 games ahead of the Giants and Cardinals and one ahead of the New York Mets.

Sale allowed just three singles in his second start in San Francisco. Coincidentally, his only previous start here was exactly 10 years earlier, when he also had 12 strikeouts in eight scoreless innings for the White Sox, but again got a no-decision in his team’s 3-2 win in 10 innings.

The final game came in the third year of Sale’s seven consecutive All-Star appearances, in which he finished sixth in the AL Cy Young balloting, followed by six consecutive top-five finishes.

This year, in his first season with the Braves, he turned back the clock after five injury-plagued seasons with the Red Sox, going 13-3 with a 2.61 ERA in 22 starts while recording 177 strikeouts — second-most in the major leagues — and just 30 walks in 134 2/3 innings.

Snell said of Sale: “Personally, of course, I wasn’t rooting for him. But other than that, I’ve been a fan for a long time. Great guy. What he’s had to go through to get to where he is now is pretty amazing. I won’t be rooting for him for the next three games, but personally, I couldn’t be happier for him and what he’s overcome.”

Michael Harris II is expected to return from the 60-day injured list on Wednesday, and that’s just in time for the Braves. Laureano, another of their backup outfielders acquired from the scrap heap, started in center on Monday and made an error in the first inning that was the latest in a string of errors that have made this makeshift outfield arguably the worst defensive unit in the major leagues.

Laureano’s mistake with a flying ball into the flat center, which somehow above his head, proved not to be costly because Sale did not allow it.

Not like the two defensive errors Jorge Soler made in right field in Sale’s last start, and certainly not like the game-winning fly ball Laureano bowled in New York on July 25 that gave the Mets a walk-off victory over the Braves in the 10th inning.

Laureano played right field that night in New York, in a game started by…yes, Sale.

Sale was also on the mound on August 7 when Soler was charged with an error in right field that allowed a run. He later made another costly mistake on a play in the fifth inning when a catchable ball landed in front of him – he had taken a wrong route – and scored a single that put two runners on base before Sale struck out the next two batters, which would have ended the inning had the ball been caught.

Instead, the Brewers managed to get two RBI singles with two outs against Sale in that inning, and he was credited with three runs (two earned) in 4 2/3 innings of the Braves’ 8-5 loss.

The Braves could live with Soler’s initial defensive issues because when they acquired him, they knew he had served exclusively as a DH for the Giants this season and hadn’t played in the outfield since 2023. He played 32 games in right field for Miami then after playing 57 games in left field for the Marlins in 2022.

Soler’s four home runs in the three-game series that ended Sunday in Colorado were a reminder of his game-winning power, and he also has a disciplined approach, evident by walks in each of his first two at-bats Monday against Snell. That, combined with his tremendous swing, makes him the best current leadoff option for the Braves, especially with Jarred Kelenic having struggled mightily since his initial surge when he was the leadoff player.

Although Harris played first batter before his Grade 2 hamstring strain two months ago, Snitker said Soler, acquired in a trade deadline deal with the Giants, will remain at first bat even after Harris returns. He plans to have Harris bat in the lower middle of the lineup.

Harris got off to a slow start before his injury, posting a .250 batting average with a .295 OBP and a .653 OPS in 67 games. But the Braves saw last season what he can do when he gets going. Harris was slowed by injuries in early 2023, including a stint on the IL because of a back strain, and posted just a .190 batting average with a .562 OPS in his first 43 games.

But in his next two games, he hit 7-for-8 with two home runs, starting a hot streak that lasted for virtually the rest of the season for Harris. In his final 95 games, he batted .333 with a .906 OPS with 45 extra-base hits (15 home runs) and a .906 OPS, starting all but two games during that stretch that lasted just over 3 1/2 months.

Harris went 10-for-23 (.435) and had one home run in six rehab games with Triple-A Gwinnett, and on Wednesday the Braves will have significantly more confidence in the center fielder they are sending out on the field than they have since he was out.

(Photo by Jorge Soler: Sergio Estrada / USA Today)