Are you sure you did not get visited by two-legged varmints? Rabbits might be a more likely prospect, but salvias are usually not bothered by deer or rabbits because the plant parts are not tasty. Unless vegetation is scarce, they do not get chewed on.

I was thinking exactly the same thing!

Cursed varmints with big bitey teeth!

I've had some damage in various gardens. Last year a patch of uliginosa was browsed as was the pineapple sage which grew nearby. The latter was understandable, sort of, but the former? The chewed areas were too high for anything but deer. At that same set of gardens patches of both coccinea and subrotunda received heavier damage from what I think was rabbits. The damage was severe enough to delay bloom until August and the sages never did reach their full stature: coccinea Dreamsicle which can reach six feet topped out at around two.

Even our blasted gophers have never touched my Salvias, due to the taste. Hope I didn't just jinx it...

Maybe you could set up a camera. :) Or put flour around the vicinity, and see if you find footprints.

Brenda

I had rabbits eat the flowers off of my salvias last summer. I am hoping there will be enough clover around to distract them this year.

Becky

The flour idea is a neat trick I hadn't thought of. Honestly, I can't think of the last time I saw a rabbit in my neighborhood. And the Salvia are planted right next to a row of marigolds, and I thought bunnies avoided those.
For the most part, whatever is having my salvias for dinner, isn't leaving much. A stray leaf or flower, but the stalk is GONE.