MIAMI – The Atlanta Braves suffered a blow Saturday, placing pitching ace Chris Sale on the 15-day injured list because of a fractured left rib cage. The move is backdated to June 19.

Sale sustained the injury when he dove to field a chopper in the ninth inning of his last outing, against the New York Mets. He snagged the ball and threw Juan Soto out, then a highlight of his 8 2/3 scoreless innings in a victory.

He stayed in the game, striking out Pete Alonso, and surrendered a single to Brandon Nimmo before Raisel Iglesias took over.

Now, Sale is sidelined for the foreseeable future.

“He was doing his exercises and everything (Friday) and felt like something wasn’t right,” manager Brian Snitker said. “So they had him looked at and it showed what it showed.

“It’s a freak thing. Unfortunate thing. I saw him after the game that night and he was doing his postgame workout and everything. I saw him the next day and I think he felt a little uncomfortable, but then Friday was when we wanted to get it checked out. It’s a tough blow for us and him. He was throwing so well. That’s a rough one.”

Snitker didn’t have an estimate for how long Sale would be out. The Braves recalled lefty Austin Cox to fill the open roster spot.

Sale, 36, has a 2.52 ERA in 15 starts, with 114 strikeouts and 26 walks. He’s looked every bit of a reigning Cy Young-winner lately, posting a 1.41 ERA in his past 11 outings.

The Braves will keep Didier Fuentes, who made his MLB debut Friday, in the rotation, Snitker said. That group also includes Spencer Strider, Spencer Schwellenbach, Grant Holmes and Bryce Elder. Fuentes allowed four runs across five innings in his first outing against the Marlins.

But the Sale news means a challenging campaign will get even tougher. The Braves entered Saturday 34-40, having won three consecutive series, though still trying to get above the .500 mark.

“It’s not the first time we’ve been through this,” Snitker said. “We’ve lost our best position players, our best pitchers all in the same year. We’ve handled it before and we will again.”

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