Chris Sale was ill in the week leading up to his last start, in which he had the lowest average fastball velocity of his big league career.

Manager Alex Cora revealed the news of Sale’s illness on Tuesday morning before Sale was scheduled to start the Red Sox’ home opener at Fenway Park.

Sale is feeling better and had a normal week of build-up for this start, Cora said. But his last one was a different story, as he averaged 89 mph on his fastball and still managed to pitch six innings of one-run ball against the A’s.

“He doesn’t like making excuses,” Cora said. “He only threw probably 50 throws between starts. It wasn’t the belly button thing but right around there. Yeah, it was bad for a while. I hate making excuses for my players. There’s a reason for certain things and the fact that he went out there and pitched, it tells me a lot about Chris. The way he competed, it was amazing, and I expect him to go out there again today and do the same thing.”

Asked if anything was wrong with Sale’s shoulder, Cora said, “No, sick.”

Did it affect his velocity?

“I mean when you can’t work in between it’s tough,” Cora said. “He spent a lot of time in the bathroom.”

Sale said after the start vs. the A’s that his lack of velocity was more to do with his comfort than health.

“I’m still just trying to find it,” he said. “Still working on some things with my mechanics and trying to find my space out there. Just trying to get comfortable and find the groove. That’s half the battle with a pitcher, especially a starting pitcher is finding a groove and getting comfortable. We’re still working. It’s a work in progress. Like I said, that’s no excuse. Have to go out there and find a way.”

The Red Sox remain optimistic that their pitchers’ velocities will return to normal levels soon.