Chris Sale Refuses to Question Alex Cora's Decision to Pull Him Despite 17 Ks

Last night, Chris Sale was on his way to history... until he wasn't. With a whopping 17 strikeouts through seven innings, the Boston ace was only three away from the iconic 20-punchout milestonewith with six outs still to go. Sale finished the seventh inning with 108 pitches with the Red Sox up 3-2 on the Colorado Rockies.

Decision time then came for manager Alex Cora, who ultimately decided to pull his starter in favor of Brandon Workman, who promptly surrendered a two run home run to Charlie Blackmon. Though Boston would tie the game up in the bottom of the eighth, they would go on to lose 5-4 in extra innings. Many are questioning Cora's decision to pull Sale-- but the man himself isn't one of them.

Sale rightly has a lot of respect for his manager. Cora did lead the team to a World Series championship last season, after all. Sale could also just be looking to keep from throwing his manager under the bus despite being privately pissed off about being pulled given the final result, but for now, Sale is content to be a good neighbor.

It certainly is understandable why Sale was pulled, as his pitch count was high and the man has a history of breaking down as the season goes on due to fatigue. With all of the question marks that have surrounded the health of his shoulder, there was no reason to push him to the limit.

Last night was still a special performance for Sale regardless of the final score. Good on him for standing by his manager.