Most common reason for dying salvia is excess soil water/moisture.

your pic isnt great ...

answer me this ... are those stems dead to the ground???

or did you trigger buds lower on your cut stem .. ???

most plants have dormant buds ... all along the stem ... usually just above a leaf node ...

proper pruning would cut just above such .. and the dormant or tiny bud will 'trigger' and take dominance ...

i suspect.. you didnt know that.. and just gave it a haircut ...

you have nothing to lose ... go in there... and study your plant.. and just trim out the dead stuff ...

frankly.. the plant has some nice vigorous new growth ... its only problem right now.. is your panic ..

after pruning.. it does take a few weeks.. for bloom to reappear ... but they are already budding up .. what more do you want???

pruning rarely causes disease.. yes it can happen ... but it really isnt that big a deal ...

can you get on your knees.. and tell me if i am right or not??? .. and then hope i wander back to check your reply .. lol ...

ken

Thank you for the input. I will try letting the soil dry out more between waterings.

The stems that look healthy with new buds are the stems I didn't prune. They had not flowered yet. The stems that I pruned? Are dead all the way to the ground. I attached a pic, hopefully clearer.

I will try not to panic. Haha. I will just be really sad if these plants don't work out, because they were real showstoppers while they lasted. I'll cut out the dead stems completely. Maybe if I let it dry out more, it will come back.