Chris Sale sailing along for first-place Braves, hoping for injury-free season

ATLANTA (AP) — Chris Sale was hesitant to discuss how good he's feeling after another strong start for the Atlanta Braves.

“I wish you guys would stop talking about it,” he admonished reporters with a smile, tapping the table he was sitting at. "Is this thing made of wood?”

It's understandable that Sale wouldn't want to jinx himself after all the injuries he endured with the Boston Red Sox.

Once one of the game's most dominant pitchers, the guy with the funky motion and nasty stuff, Sale managed just 31 starts over the past four seasons, spending far more time in the training room than he did on the mound.

Desperate for starting pitching, the Braves decided to take a chance on the 35-year-old left-hander, acquiring him from the Red Sox in late December for prospect Vaughn Grissom.

So far, so good.

Sale (3-1) allowed just two hits over seven innings in a 6-2 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Friday night — marking the third start in a row that he's gone that far.

If that doesn't sound all that impressive, consider this : It's the first time since June 19-30, 2018, that Sale has lasted seven innings over three consecutive appearances.

“I really put a lot of emphasis on strengthening my shoulder and getting stronger and just being healthy,” he said. ”I owed it to whatever team I was pitching for."

Sale's performance over the first month of the season has been a big boost for the Braves, who lost their ace starter, Spencer Strider, to a season-ending injury.

“You know the guy he is, the competitor he is,” first baseman Matt Olson said of Sale. “He's gonna go out and compete with what he's got that day. His stuff's been great. He's mixing it up well, keeping hitters off balance, the funky angles. It's been fun to play behind him.”

Asked if Sale looks like the pitcher who had double-figure wins for seven straight seasons through 2018 — finishing in the top six of the AL Cy Young balloting each of those years — Olson insisted “he's right there.”

“There's been a lot of uncomfortable swings his last few starts,” the slugger said.

Sale's slider has been a big part of his early success with the Braves, who have won 10 of 11 games to build baseball's best record at 18-6.

“The slider has long been an attribute of my success,” he said. “It makes all my other pitches look better when I get that one synched up with everything else.”

Now, if only Sale can figure out a way to keep from giving up the long ball in the first inning.

All four homers he's surrendered this season have come in the opening frame — including leadoff homers in his last two starts. Cleveland's Steven Kwan went deep on the seventh pitch of the game, but the Guardians managed just one more hit and no more runs against Sale.

“If I could just get over the hump in that first inning, the game would be all right,” he said with a chuckle.

The Braves had no complaints. Sale walked one, struck out six and threw 67 of 95 pitches for strikes before turning it over to the bullpen.

Now, if he can just keep it going for a full year.

“Being healthy and staying healthy throughout the season is key,” Sale said. “You can't help the team if you're not there.”

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Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Chris Sale reacts after walking Miami Marlins' Jake Burger during the fifth inning of a baseball game, Saturday, April 13, 2024, in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Atlanta Braves' Chris Sale delivers a pitch during the first inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Saturday, April 13, 2024, in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Atlanta Braves pitcher Chris Sale (51) stands on the mound during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians, Friday, April 26, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Atlanta Braves pitcher Chris Sale (51) delivers to a Texas Rangers batter in the first inning of a basedball game Friday, April 19, 2024, in Athens. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Atlanta Braves pitcher Chris Sale (51) delivers against the Cleveland Guardians during the first inning of a baseball game, Friday, April 26, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Atlanta Braves pitcher Chris Sale (51) delivers in the first inning against the Cleveland Guardians during a baseball game, Friday, April 26, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Atlanta Braves pitcher Chris Sale (51) delivers in the seventh inning against the Cleveland Guardians during a baseball game, Friday, April 26, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he would not supply offensive weapons that Israel could use to launch an all-out assault on Rafah — the last major Hamas stronghold in Gaza — over concern for the well-being of the more than 1 million civilians sheltering there.

Biden, in an interview with CNN, said the U.S. was still committed to Israel's defense and would supply Iron Dome rocket interceptors and other defensive arms, but that if Israel goes into Rafah, “we’re not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells used, that have been used.”

The interview marked Biden's toughest public comments yet about the potential Israeli military operation and followed his decision to pause a shipment of heavy bombs to Israel last week over concerns that the U.S. ally was moving closer to an attack on Rafah despite public and private warnings from his administration.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that the country was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the United States, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday.

The shipment was supposed to consist of 1,800 2,000-pound (900-kilogram) bombs and 1,700 500-pound (225-kilogram) bombs, according to the official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter. The focus of U.S. concern was the larger explosives and how they could be used in a dense urban setting like Rafah where more than 1 million civilians are sheltering after evacuating other parts of Gaza amid Israel’s war on Hamas, which came after the militant group’s deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

Austin confirmed the weapons delay, telling the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on defense that the U.S. paused “one shipment of high payload munitions.”

“We’re going to continue to do what’s necessary to ensure that Israel has the means to defend itself,” Austin said. “But that said, we are currently reviewing some near-term security assistance shipments in the context of unfolding events in Rafah.”

The U.S. has historically provided enormous amounts of military aid to Israel. That has only accelerated in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that killed some 1,200 in Israel and led to about 250 being taken captive by militants. The pausing of the aid shipment is the most striking manifestation of the growing daylight between Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden, which has called on Israel to do far more to protect the lives of innocent civilians in Gaza.

It also comes as the Biden administration is due to deliver a first-of-its-kind formal verdict this week on whether the airstrikes on Gaza and restrictions on delivery of aid have violated international and U.S. laws designed to spare civilians from the worst horrors of war. A decision against Israel would further add to pressure on Biden to curb the flow of weapons and money to Israel’s military.

Biden signed off on the pause in an order conveyed last week to the Pentagon, according to U.S. officials who were not authorized to comment on the matter. The White House National Security Council sought to keep the decision out of the public eye for several days until it had a better understanding of the scope of Israel’s intensified military operations in Rafah and until Biden could deliver a long-planned speech on Tuesday to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Biden’s administration in April began reviewing future transfers of military assistance as Netanyahu’s government appeared to move closer toward an invasion of Rafah, despite months of opposition from the White House. The official said the decision to pause the shipment was made last week and no final decision had been made yet on whether to proceed with the shipment at a later date.

U.S. officials had declined for days to comment on the halted transfer, word of which came as Biden on Tuesday described U.S. support for Israel as “ironclad, even when we disagree.”

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to square the arms holdup with Biden’s rhetoric in support of Israel, saying only, “Two things could be true.”

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, in an interview with Israeli Channel 12 TV news, said the decision to pause the shipment was “a very disappointing decision, even frustrating." He suggested the move stemmed from political pressure on Biden from Congress, the U.S. campus protests and the upcoming election.

The decision also drew a sharp rebuke from House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who said they only learned about the military aid holdup from press reports, despite assurances from the Biden administration that no such pauses were in the works. The Republicans called on Biden in a letter to swiftly end the blockage, saying it “risks emboldening Israel's enemies,” and to brief lawmakers on the nature of the policy reviews.

Biden has faced pressure from some on the left — and condemnation from the critics on the right who say Biden has moderated his support for an essential Mideast ally.

“If we stop weapons necessary to destroy the enemies of the state of Israel at a time of great peril, we will pay a price,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., his voice rising in anger during an exchange with Austin. “This is obscene. It is absurd. Give Israel what they need to fight the war they can’t afford to lose.”

Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a Biden ally, said in a statement the pause on big bombs must be a “first step.”

“Our leverage is clear,” Sanders said. “Over the years, the United States has provided tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Israel. We can no longer be complicit in Netanyahu’s horrific war against the Palestinian people.”

Austin, meanwhile, told lawmakers that "it’s about having the right kinds of weapons for the task at hand.”

"A small diameter bomb, which is a precision weapon, that’s very useful in a dense, built-up environment,” he said, “but maybe not so much a 2,000-pound bomb that could create a lot of collateral damage.” He said the U.S. wants to see Israel do “more precise” operations.

Israeli troops on Tuesday seized control of Gaza’s vital Rafah border crossing in what the White House described as a limited operation that stopped short of the full-on Israeli invasion of the city that Biden has repeatedly warned against on humanitarian grounds, most recently in a Monday call with Netanyahu.

Israel has ordered the evacuation of 100,000 Palestinians from the city. Israeli forces have also carried out what it describes as “targeted strikes” on the eastern part of Rafah and captured the Rafah crossing, a critical conduit for the flow of humanitarian aid along the Gaza-Egypt border.

Privately, concern has mounted inside the White House about what’s unfolding in Rafah, but publicly administration officials have stressed that they did not think the operations had defied Biden’s warnings against a widescale operation in the city.

The State Department is separately considering whether to approve the continued transfer of Joint Direct Attack Munition kits, which place precision guidance systems onto bombs, to Israel, but the review didn’t pertain to imminent shipments.

The U.S. dropped the 2,000-pound bomb sparingly in its long war against the Islamic State militant group. Israel, by contrast, has used the bomb frequently in the seven-month Gaza war. Experts say the use of the weapon, in part, has helped drive the enormous Palestinian casualty count that the Hamas-run health ministry puts at more than 34,000 dead, though it doesn’t distinguish between militants and civilians.

The U.S.-Israel relationship has been close through both Democratic and Republican administrations. But there have been other moments of deep tension since Israel's founding in which U.S. leaders have threatened to hold up aid in attempt to sway Israeli leadership.

President Dwight Eisenhower pressured Israel with the threat of sanctions into withdrawing from the Sinai in 1957 in the midst of the Suez Crisis. Ronald Reagan delayed the delivery of F16 fighter jets to Israel at a time of escalating violence in the Middle East. President George H.W. Bush held up $10 billion in loan guarantees to force the cessation of Israeli settlement activity in the occupied territories.

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Associated Press writers Josef Federman in Jerusalem and Lolita C. Baldor and Matthew Lee contributed to this report.

President Joe Biden arrives at Chicago O'Hare International Airport to attend a political fundraiser, Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. CQ Brown, right, listens as Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, left, speaks during a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Defense on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Protestors opposed to the war between Israel and Hamas stand before a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Defense with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. CQ Brown on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks during a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Defense with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. CQ Brown on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Protestors opposed to the Israel-Hamas war are escorted out as Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, left, speaks during a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Defense on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin attends a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Defense on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks during a briefing at the White House, Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Joe Biden speaks at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Annual Days of Remembrance ceremony at the U.S. Capitol, Tuesday, May 7, 2024 in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Pentagon chief confirms US has paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion

Pentagon chief confirms US has paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike east of Rafah, Gaza Strip, Monday, May 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)