Sánchez recovers to seal series win over Dodgers originally appeared in NBC Sports Philadelphia
At first, the question seemed a little obvious. “How confident are you in the pitching matchup?” manager Rob Thomson was asked on Wednesday, about three hours before Phillies lefty Cristopher Sánchez took over against the Dodgers.
Now, anyone who has been close to Thomson understands that he would rather wear cargo shorts, a Grateful Dead T-shirt and flip-flops on a team flight rather than his usual dapper ensemble of coat, tie and hat than publicly betray even even the smallest fault. trust in any of his players.
Furthermore, Sánchez has been a revelation this season. And every extenuating circumstance was offered. He was building his first complete game. He was bothered by a throat infection. And, of course, the harsh reality that even really good pitchers have really bad games or simply hit a slump at some point during the season.
In hindsight, however, it would have been interesting to hear the manager’s true thoughts if he had been overcome by a temporary bout of transparency. Because as good as the lanky 27-year-old was, he was coming off by far his worst game of the season. He was tagged for seven earned runs in four innings against the Cubs at Wrigley Field on July 4th.
In other words, he allowed as many runs while lighting up like a firework as he had in the previous seven starts. Combined. In a total of 44.1 entries. If Thomson were being completely honest, he would probably have admitted that his default confidence would have been tempered by a great deal of caution and a great deal of curiosity. And his fingers were firmly crossed.
Sánchez did everything the Phillies expected him to do. On another hot night in front of another sold-out crowd at Citizens Bank Park, he held the first-place Dodgers to two runs in six innings.
That was enough for the home team to win 4-3. They are the first team in baseball this year to go from zero to 60 (wins) and they did it in just 92 games. In franchise history, only the 1976 team, which started 60-28, reached that milestone faster.
They also secured a series victory in the first two games and extended their lead over Los Angeles in the NL postseason rankings to 5 1/2 games, which could be important when home-field advantage is determined later in the year. .
They did all this because reliever Matt Strahm came in with the game on the line in the seventh and destroyed perennial MVP candidate Shohei Ohtani. They did so because they took yes for an answer when two defensive lapses by the Dodgers opened the door for them to score two decisive runs in the fifth.
And they won because Sánchez ignored his weeklong jalopy and improved his record to 7-4. His earned run average is 2.96.
“I like to turn the page. New beginnings”, he said through translator Diego D’Aniello. “It was the same plan as always. I don’t care who the opponent is. I just go out and execute the plan we established between the pitching coach and the catchers.”
Sánchez confirmed that he did not feel well in Chicago. “It was really bad,” he said. “I had a fever. My body hurt. I had a sore throat. But I decided myself that I wanted to release.
All of this is more than just casual interest for a Phillies team that boasts the best record in baseball, in large part because its rotation has a 3.19 earned run average, the best in baseball.
Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola and known quantities. The fifth spot has become something of a revolving door, with Tyler Phillips set to become the fourth arm to occupy that spot when he starts against the Athletics on Saturday, but that becomes irrelevant once the postseason rolls around.
Sánchez and Ranger Suárez are the starters who have taken big steps this year. His success, or lack thereof, in the second half will go a long way in determining whether the Phils rotation stays on top or sinks into the middle of the pack.
Suárez has a 2.58 ERA on the season despite going 0-2, 7.47 in his last three outings. Therefore, as he tries to recover, it was much more important for Sánchez to demonstrate that he was not falling into a crisis of his own.
“He was fantastic,” Thomson said. “He was throwing blows. First throwing strikes. His change was very, very good. He calmed the game down when it got hot. He did a very good job.”
And this, we may assume, was the whole truth and nothing more.
