Sale pays homage to Tiant with first pitch: 'One of my favorite people'

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- For Chris Sale, Saturday’s return to JetBlue Park, where he spent seven Spring Trainings with the Red Sox, started with an homage to a late legend.

As the lanky Braves lefty threw his first pitch in the bottom of the first to Jarren Duran, he did a hesitation move with his hands, contorted the front of his body towards center field, whirred and fired.

It didn’t much matter that it was a ball in what ultimately turned into a solid six-inning performance in Atlanta’s 7-3 win over Boston. What mattered was that Sale was able to honor Luis Tiant, who died five months ago at the age of 83.

• Luis Tiant's top career moments

“I had kind of had this start circled for a little bit. Just who Luis was to me and what he meant to me, not only in baseball but just in my life,” said Sale. “He was one of my favorite people. Any time he came into the clubhouse, he was one of those larger-than-life characters, and he was a special person. And I just felt like that was something cool for me to be able to do -- kind of tip my cap to him.”

Throwing the pitch with vintage El Tiante style also gave Sale even more respect for the man.

“To be able to do all that and then be able to find the zone as much as he did was impressive,” said Sale.

Tiant was a near-constant presence not only in Spring Training but also at Fenway Park, where he was the Red Sox’s unofficial grand ambassador.

Sale felt the love from Tiant through the years, and this was a way to honor him.

“It first came up, I was talking to my wife about it, and then I told [Braves Triple-A pitching coach Craig Bjornson] about it -- we were together in Boston for a little bit -- as we were walking in from warming up,” said Sale. “When I got to the dugout, I was like, ‘Hey guys, just to let you know, I’ve got something up my sleeve,’ and I told them what I was going to do, and they loved it.”

While Tiant’s pitching accomplishments and mound charisma were well known, Sale felt a connection that went beyond those things.

“He was a guy that you could have some pretty good ball talk with,” said Sale. “And he could bust your chops with the best of them. And then just on the flip side, he would kiss you on the forehead and tell you he loved you on his way out.”

One time when Sale was in the midst of a slump with the Red Sox, Tiant pepped him up.

“I remember I was going through a tough time just trying to find mechanics, my stuff wasn’t what I wanted,” Sale said. “It was not pretty. And I bet we probably sat there and talked for 20 or 30 minutes in the training room about baseball, about mentality, about just a lot of things.

“So I made a start, pitched well and brought it up [in the press conference] that he had helped me through that. But he was just a fun guy to chop it up with, talking about baseball. He was just an incredible human being in baseball.”