Eli White steps up again, helps Braves continue resurgence as Chris Sale gets first win

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PHOENIX — When Eli White hit a long three-run homer in the eighth inning Wednesday to lift the Atlanta Braves to a 4-1 win against the St. Louis Cardinals, he did more than produce the greatest moment of his journeyman career.

He earned himself a second consecutive start Friday night at Arizona.

“Heck, yeah,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said a few hours before a series opener against the Diamondbacks. “I mean, you just never know, maybe he’s getting hot. We’ll see.”

We saw.

White, after driving in the last three runs Wednesday to cap a 5-1 homestand for the previously slumping Braves, continued his career walk on cloud nine with two hits and two RBIs in an 8-2 win at Arizona on Friday, including driving in the first run with a double in a three-run second inning against Zac Gallen.

Good start to the road trip!#BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/KihiWQ1d3x

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) April 26, 2025

That inning propelled Chris Sale to his first win in six starts, and sent the Braves to their sixth win in seven games since their 5-13 start. Atlanta is 11-7 since starting 0-7, though Friday was just their third win in 14 road games.

Sale, the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, allowed a season-low one run in five innings.

“It was good, a step in the right direction,” he said. “Tonight was a big night for everybody. I think everybody in our lineup got on base in some way, shape, or form. Eli with another big night offensively — I mean, you got to love that.”

Snitker started White in right field instead of Jarred Kelenic, who had started six consecutive games and 20 of 24 but was hitting just .167 with a .531 OPS for the season. On Wednesday, White played left field when late-spring signee Alex Verdugo got his first day off since being added to the major-league team at the start of the homestand.

White has hit .280 with an .837 OPS in 28 plate appearances and has five RBIs, all in the past two games.

“Yeah, he had some really good at bats,” Snitker said of White after Friday’s win. “I mean, even in the first at-bat when he hit the double, he fouled some good fastballs off that just, he was all over him. And he made a great catch in right field. His skill set adds a lot. So, hopefully he can keep it going.”

Verdugo was back in left and batting leadoff Friday — the Braves are 5-1 with him in the lineup — and drove in the second run of the game two batters after White’s double with a bloop double just inside the left-field line.

Snitker liked this new outfield configuration with center fielder Michael Harris II flanked by Verdugo and White — even before White came through with two more hits Friday including an eighth-inning RBI single.

“Yeah, I looked at that and just what (White) can do with his legs and the defense, and his at-bats really have been good all year,” Snitker said. “But you get a big hit like that (homer), heck yeah. That’s kind of what this is all about.”

By “what this is all about,” Snitker was referring to playing major-league baseball and producing results.

White, 30, made the Opening Day roster after the former college and minor-league infielder proved at spring training that he could still play solid defense at a few infield positions, even though he’d played almost exclusively in the outfield during his previous five MLB seasons.

He hasn’t played any infield this season, but did in spring training, when the Braves saw enough to considering him a backup option if they need him at second base, first base or even shortstop.

For now, until star right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. returns from the injured list at some point in May, the Braves have an outfield need, one that White looks more capable of handling than Kelenic right now.

“I mean, that was a great moment, I’ll tell you,” Snitker said of White’s homer. “Just for him, us, the whole thing. Those things can’t do anything but help you going forward.”

The Braves like White’s speed and versatility, and in the past couple of games he perhaps provided a glimpse of power and timely hitting that they weren’t previously aware he had.

He had a hand in all three innings in which the Braves scored Friday, including the two-run sixth and three-run eighth. With runners on first and second and two out in the sixth, White hit a chopper to third baseman Eugenio Suárez, who might’ve noticed how quickly White was hustling up the line and bounced a throw past first base to let in a run.

Progress for Sale

Sale had one win and a 4.58 ERA after three starts last year. But after six starts he was 4-1 with a 3.44 ERA, and was three games into a torrid stretch in which he went 7-0 with a 1.17 ERA in seven starts while totaling 58 strikeouts with four walks in 46 innings.

This season after six starts, Sale is 1-2 with a 5.40 ERA, trimming his ERA from 6.17 with his best start Friday.

It wasn’t a dominant performance, but there were glimpses of vintage Sale, like when he worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the first inning by striking out Josh Naylor for the second out before getting a routine fly for the third. Or when he struck out Randal Grichuk after Corbin Carroll’s one-out triple in the third inning.

“It was good, a step in the right direction,” said Sale, who is his own harshest critic and had been exceedingly hard on himself after recent starts. “I felt like this is the first time I was able to kind of get a little bit of feel back. I’ve still got some work to do, but this was definitely a step in the right direction.”.

Sale gave up five hits and two walks with four strikeouts, and might’ve gone beyond five innings for the first time this season if not for a bloated pitch count. He was at 90 pitches after four innings.

He finished with a season-high 104 pitches (68 strikes) and his fastball averaged a solid 94.7 miles per hour, topping out at 97.1. Though he got just one miss in 25 swings at the heater — compared to 10 whiffs on 22 swings at his slider — Sale liked where the fastball was Friday and how he was able to maintain velocity throughout his outing.

“Slider was kind of hit and miss, really,” he said. “I mean, I had some really good ones, but it wasn’t as consistent as I really wanted it to be. But again, I feel like I’m getting close to being right where I want to be.”

Before the game, Snitker was asked about Sale’s previous three starts, in which he’d lasted 4 1/3 innings twice and 4 2/3 innings, and had given up 21 hits and 10 earned runs in those 13 total innings.

“I think the stuff’s been really good,” Snitker said. “I think it’s just a matter of him getting on a roll, kind of like our offense. It took us a while and those things happen. As long as he feels good, they’ve got a lot of confidence that he’ll get on his roll and get to feeling (his pitches) and…it’s just a matter of time.”

Last season, Sale lasted fewer than five innings just twice in 29 starts, and five or fewer innings in only six starts. He’s not worked more than five starts yet this season.

He’s 36 now, with considerable wear and tear, but the Braves believe he has plenty left — or at least they hope he does.

Because with Reynaldo López expected to be sidelined at least until September after arthroscopic shoulder surgery, and Spencer Strider back on the IL with a strained hamstring after making one start following his year-long rehab from elbow surgery, the top four spots in the Braves’ rotation aren’t looking anything like the formidable foursome they expected to have in place by this point of the season.

So far, only Spencer Schwellenbach has pitched as expected from that group.

(Photo: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)

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