On Tuesday night, the Philadelphia Phillies got their best pitching performance of the season. Ace Cristopher Sánchez took the mound for the Phillies. Coming into the game, he had a 2.90 ERA on the season, but bats were finding his pitches. He allowed 48 hits in his first 40.1 IP.
In his last start against the San Francisco Giants, he pitched 6.2 IP, allowing two earned runs and striking out seven. While a solid start, Sánchez outdid himself against the division-leading Sacramento A's.
Sánchez didn't allow a hit until the third inning. Even that wasn't much. It was grounder off the bat of Jacob Wilson that found a hole. It had an expected batting average of .150.
The A's wouldn't record another hit until the seventh inning. Sánchez looked to be in some trouble. Colby Thomas and Zack Gelof started the inning with back-to-back singles. Sánchez then struck out Tyler Soderstrom for out one. He got Austin Wynns grounded out to Alec Bohm. He finished the inning by striking out Darell Hernaiz.
Sánchez continued into the eighth inning for the first time this season. After recording a quick groundout, he recorded his ninth and tenth strikeouts of the night against the usually dangerous Jacob Wilson and Brent Rooker.
It was just the ninth time in his career that he recorded double-digit strikeouts. He lowered his season ERA to 2.42 with the stellar outing.
Closer Jhoan Duran returned from injury and allowed one ER. He allowed a single and three walks. He struck out two.
For the majority of Tuesday night's game, it looked like the Phillies were cruising to a back-to-back 1-0 win. Through six innings, their only run came on a Bryce Harper solo homer. If the score had held there, Harper would've become only the second player in MLB history with back-to-back games with a homer in 1-0 victories. (Joe Panik being the other).
The floodgates opened in the seventh inning against former Phillie Mark Leiter Jr. After a Trea Turner leadoff double and advancing to third on a wild pitch, Bryce Harper walked. Adolis Garcia hit a sac fly to make the score 2-0. With two outs, the Phillies didn't stop. Brandon Marsh singled. JT Realmuto doubled, scoring two. Bryson Stott topped it off with a two-run home run to make it a 6-0 game.
In the eighth inning, the Phillies continued to pour it on. Justin Crawford led off with a double. Trea Turner drove him in with a single and Bryce Harper hit his second homer of the night, making it 9-0.
After their offensive performances, Harper is now hitting .286 with a .948 OPS. Marsh is now hitting .325 on the season after a three-hit night.
