Chris Sale never wears sleeves under his uniform jersey, not even on the coldest of days. So the long scar running along his left elbow was easy to see when he came out of the dugout on Saturday and jogged to the mound to start the rest of his career.
His teammates stood on the top step of the dugout applauding and the fans at Fenway Park joined in.
It had been two years and a day since Sale had last pitched for the Red Sox, which made this a memorable day regardless of how he pitched.
That Sale allowed two runs and struck out eight without a walk over five innings in a 16-2 victory against the Baltimore Orioles only made it better.
We’ve come to think of Tommy John surgery as something almost routine for pitchers. Slap in a tendon to form a new elbow ligament, wait a year and welcome back.
Only it’s not. Yankees righthander Luis Severino had his surgery a month earlier than Sale and still isn’t back and may not be any time soon now that he has shoulder pain.
Big strong Noah Syndergaard of the Mets was in the OR five days before Sale and he’s not back yet, either.
That made Saturday a triumph for the medical staff and all the other people who helped Sale on his way back to Fenway.
“Today was a special day for this organization,” manager Alex Cora said. “A lot of conversations, a lot of people from top to bottom … Today was one of those days that you feel very proud to be a Red Sox.”
Sale’s ticket list included his wife and three sons, his parents, his college coach, his in-laws, and some friends from back home in Florida. That’s usually who you invite to a playoff game.
In a way, that’s what this was. Saturday was the reward for all the days when Sale couldn’t play.
“Hell, I was on top of the world. I threw the last pitch of the World Series; show up to spring training and sign this huge freaking contract and like that, gone. Clearly I wasn’t expecting it,” Sale said.
Sale was a first-round draft pick who made his major league debut a few months later. He quickly became an All-Star, set records, then won a World Series. Any adversity or injury he encountered was always temporary.
This was something different and Sale was not always a joy to be around as he recovered.
“I’m a tough guy to deal with on a good day and I had a lot of bad days,” he said.
But he emerged with a new outlook and an appreciation of the people who helped him through it. Sale’s postgame remarks included hosannas to the athletic trainers, strength coaches, and others who helped him.
“I became a better person on the back end of this I’d like to think,” said Sale, who also addressed his teammates afterward and thanked them. “I’m so damned appreciative of the people and the experience.”
The outing wasn’t perfect, far from it. But it was every bit as encouraging as Sale and the Sox could have hoped for with a promise for more to come.
The first two innings stayed on script. Sale allowed only an infield hit and struck out three. Same old Sale. That shifted with two outs in the third inning when Austin Hays and Trey Mancini hit back-to-back homers.
Cora said earlier in the week that they would treat Sale as if it was April and they did. He was lifted after five innings and 89 pitches.
Sale averaged 93.3 miles per hour with his fastball and threw his slider for strikes. The slider didn’t have the ferocious bite we’ve seen in the past, but Sale located it well when he needed to.
Seventeen foul balls hurt his efficiency, but that should improve over time.
That’s for his next start. For now it was enough just to pitch.
“This game was ripped out of my hands. I had a hole in my chest for two years,” Sale said. “I’ll be completely honest with you: I took days for granted.
“I’ve been a big leaguer for 11 years now and I took moments, I took days, I took weeks for granted. Through all of this I’ve had a huge perspective change.
“I can tell you one thing — I’m not wasting another damn day in my big-league career.”
Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him on Bluesky at peteabeglobe.bsky.social.