Chris Sale tossed five dominant innings Friday night in his return from the COVID-19 related injured list, where he spent the past week after testing positive for the virus. The Orioles only grabbed two hits off of the Boston Red Sox ace, despite only striking out once against the southpaw.

Sale, 31, confirmed after the outing to reporters that he is not vaccinated. It was his second time testing positive, and both times he had the virus he was asymptomatic.

“I felt like I was making another rehab start with a new team,” Sale said. “Was kinda weird. Just not being around, and I guess doing all of my baseball activity at the house.”

“It was different for mid-season anyways, but I got all the work I needed to get in,” he added. “I was lucky enough to have people bringing stuff to my house, whether it’d be weights, jump ropes, I even got a portable mound from Babson’s so it worked out well.”

The Sox lefty missed just one start because he tested negative in time to make the start on Friday. He was Boston’s 10th positive COVID test, and now sits at 4-0 on the season with an ERA of 2.40.

Sale hurled 79 pitches, 40 sliders, 23 fastballs, and 16 changeups Friday night according to Baseball Savant.

“I stayed on my exact schedule,” Sale explained. “I threw a six-inning simulated game in my backyard actually. I got a pretty good sized backyard so I was able to stretch out to 90 feet and play some long toss as well.”

“It was all really kind of the same except for the big — not that I lift big, heavy weights or anything — but I didn’t have the squat rack there or some other things, but I made it through,” the left-hander continued. “I’ve been in worse situations.”

(Photo of Red Sox Pitcher Chris Sale by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)