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The real ace of PNC: Sanchez steals spotlight usually reserved for Skenes as Phillies get back to .500
It’s not surprising these days to hear about dominant pitching performances at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.
But the one on Saturday had nothing to do with Paul Skenes.
He’ll pitch on Sunday in a clash of the titans against Zack Wheeler, but both guys will have a tough time topping what Cristopher Sanchez did a day earlier.
Sanchez tossed his second career shutout and fourth career complete game, doing so while striking out a career high 13 batters in a 6-0 Phillies victory.
In doing so, Sanchez extended his scoreless innings streak to 29 2/3 and became just the second Phillies pitcher since at least 1900 to throw a scoreless start with 13 or more strikeouts and no walks, joining Vince Velasquez, who did it in a 16-strikout game against the Padres in April, 2016.
Sanchez and Skenes will likely be in a battle all season for the NL Cy Young Award. Sanchez improved to 5-2 with a 1.82 ERA in the win.
Of his 13 strikeouts, seven came on his devastating change-up, four more on the sinker and two on the slider. He had 17 whiffs.
Sanchez seemed to especially enjoy striking out Marcel Ozuna, who he fanned four times. The two seemed to have a couple stare downs, Ozuna also said something to Sanchez after the second strikeout, and Sanchez returned a big, toothy grin in the direction of Ozuna after the third whiff.
The dominant performance by Sanchez allowed the Phillies to get back to .500, taking only 18 games (14-4) to do it after starting the season 9-19.
They became the fastest team to erase a record of 10-games under .500 to start the season since the 2001 Oakland A’s, who started the season at 8-18 and went on an identical 14-4 run to get to 22-22. Those A’s finished the season at 102-60 behind two pitchers who finished top 6 in the A.L. Cy Young voting (Mark Mulder and Tim Hudson) and a few guys who could hit the ball out of the ballpark (Jason Giambi, Eric Chavez and Miguel Tejada all hit 30-plus homers).
While the Phillies don’t have that third bopper, the rest sounds pretty familiar – and once again, the usual suspects provided the offense.
Bryce Harper crushed a three-run homer in the first inning of Bubba Chandler that hit off the batters eye in dead centerfield.
The ball travelled 457 feet and had an exit velocity of 111.3 mph. It was Harper’s 11th homer of the season.
Kyle Schwarber didn’t hot a home run in the game, but he had an RBI double in the second inning that actually scored a second run after Branden Lowe struggled to control Jared Triolo’s throw in from right field.
The Phillies offense was mostly quiet after that, although Trea Turner had an opposite field double in the eighth inning that scored the sixth run of the game, but it was no matter, as Sanchez was in full control.
The Phillies also won their sixth consecutive series. They were the first team in 21 years to win five in a row after dropping six straight.
Dusty Wathan filled in for Don Mattingly as interim manager for the game. Mattingly was away from the team for the day to attend his son Trevor’s graduation from Purdue University.
In the process, Wathan and his father John became the eighth set of father/son tandems to manage in the Big Leagues. John Wathan, managed both the Kansas City Royals and California (now Los Angeles) Angels.
Dusty Wathan didn’t have to do much managing. With Sanchez throwing the complete game, he only had reliever Tanner Banks warming in the ninth inning, but didn’t have to make any substitutions in either the lineup, or on the mound, nor did he have to challenge any close calls.
With Mattingly returning Sunday, Wathan is assured to remain on another list for the time being – managers who have managed in the majors and have never lost a game as a manager. Wathan is the 15th such manager. None of the 15 managers have managed more than three games.
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