A narrow 24-20 win saw Bath climb to second in the Guinness Premiership table.
A last-gasp try from Matt Banahan earned Bath the victory in what was a hard-tackling contest with a number of contentious decisions.
After the match, Sale director of rugby Phillipe Saint-Andre commented, “We were penalised 15 times against five. You want consistency from the referee, but there wasn’t any today. We were penalised in attack, in defence and in the scrum.”