But Easterby's men made a mockery of their threadbare squad as Andy Fenby and Gareth Davies both went over early on to give Scarlets the lead.
However Richie Vernon and Charlie Amesbury put Sale ahead before half-time and Danny Cipriani and Charlie Ingall went over after the break to secure a 36-17 win.
This means Scarlets have won just one of their last nine games but Easterby admits he saw plenty in his fringe players to convince him that the good times can return to Parc y Scarlets sooner rather than later.
"We had a large contingent in the national setup, we had around 26 players missing," he said. "So it was a chance for us to develop some players, let them show us what we could do.
"I'm pleased with all the players who came in from the fringes of our squad and there were certainly some positives to take from that first-half performance, but errors cost us in the second half.
"We just dropped off second half, lacked composure and they got on a roll.
"This is an opportunity for younger boys to go out and show what they can do. I thought they went well, so there were certainly some individual positives to take from the first half in particular."
Elsewhere in the competition, Newport Gwent Dragons ended a run of five defeats on the spin as they edged rivals Ospreys 18-14 to record their first LV= Cup win of the season at a wet and windy Rodney Parade.
Steffan Jones kicked six penalties from six attempts as the Dragons held off a spirited performance from their RaboDirect PRO12 rivals - ending Ospreys' run of seven successive victories against other Welsh regions.
Ospreys scored the only try of the game through Jonathan Thomas and this was added to by nine points from the boot of Mathew Morgan but in the end the sin-binnings of Morgan Allen and scrum-half Rhys Webb proved costly.
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