Braves announcers knew exactly how Chris Sale would embarrass Padres catcher Freddy Fermin

The Braves broadcast didn’t describe Freddy Fermin’s strikeout. The guys practically ordered it in advance. With two outs in the sixth inning on July 23, Atlanta’s announcers began discussing the obvious danger facing the Padres catcher against Chris Sale.With two outs in the sixth inning and Sale sitting on 10 strikeouts, the first prediction arrived.

“I’m just gonna go ahead and tell you Freddy Fermin is the 11th strikeout victim of Chris Sale,” 

“I think he’s sweeping the leg here,And I think he falls down too after he swings at it.”

That’s an absurdly specific prediction. Sale dropped an 83.3 mph slider beneath the strike zone, Fermin chased it and his swing pulled the rest of his body along for the ride. The Padres catcher missed badly and finished his swing down on one knee. 

The PitchingNinja clip simply put the sequence in front of a larger audience. Sale delivered the punchline and Fermin unfortunately played the starring role.

Padres catcher Freddy Fermin’s viral strikeout wasn’t his entire afternoon

We should give Fermin some credit before the clip becomes the only thing anyone remembers from the game.

He singled off Sale’s 95.6 mph fastball in the second inning and later scored during San Diego’s three-run rally. He finished 1-3 against one of baseball’s more difficult pitchers. It’s not nothing. Sale simply won the rematch, and then the next.

He struck out Fermin with a 96.2 mph fastball in the fourth before changing the script with that slow, diving slider in the sixth. That’s exactly what the 37-year-old vet does. He can make accomplished major-league hitters look as if they’ve never encountered the objects he's hurling towards them. 

Sale completed six innings with five hits, three earned runs, one walk and 11 strikeouts on 98 pitches. The Padres made him work and scored three times, but his final pitch became the lasting image of Atlanta’s 6-5 victory.

The Friars didn’t go away quietly. Ty France continued his strong campaign and  launched a two-run homer in the eighth inning, bringing home Manny Machado and trimming Atlanta’s lead to one. Raisel Iglesias shut the door from there, handing the Padres their second consecutive one-run loss.

The defeat dropped San Diego to 50-53 and completed a disappointing series in which Atlanta won three of four. The Padres struck out 15 times in the finale, so Fermin was hardly the only hitter to fall victim to Sale and the Braves. His strikeout just happened to come with advanced narration.

All six Atlanta runs came on four home runs. Michael Harris II, Ozzie Albies and Drake Baldwin each went deep, while Dominic Smith delivered the biggest blow with a three-run shot in the fourth. Griffin Canning was charged with the loss after surrendering five runs, four earned, over 2 2/3 innings behind opener Kyle Hart.

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