Thursday, October 1, 2026
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73 ° Clear
The Phillies got back to 10 games over .500 and celebrated with fireworks after beating the Pirates 8-0 on Tuesday.
Cristopher Sánchez earned his 10th start of the season, pitching seven shutout innings, while Justin Crawford went 3-for-3 on the day to spark the offense.
Trea Turner got into the action late with a two-run homer in the eighth inning, closing out a solid 33rd birthday for the Phillies’ shortstop.
Cristopher Sánchez was dealing early on against the Pirates lineup. Recording four of his first five outs via strikeout, Sánchez came up after striking out Nick Gonzales in the top of the second, calling for a trainer to come out to the mound.
On the last pitch, a cut ripped open on his pitching hand with blood dripping onto his pant leg. Following a quick glue job from assistant athletic trainer Christian Bermúdez, Sánchez returned to the mound, striking out Endy Rodríguez to get out of the second inning unscathed.
“It was a little scrape on top,” Don Mattingly said post-game. “There’s a certain pitch he throws, I think it's the changeup; that’s the way he grips it, and he just kind of scraped it.”
With Sánchez rolling, the Phillies strung some singles together to take a lead in the bottom half of the inning. A one-out single from Alec Bohm started the action. Two batters later, J.T. Realmuto was hit-by-pitch to put two runners on for the inning.
Much was made pre-game about Don Mattingly’s choice to start rookie Gabriel Rincones Jr. over Derek Hill in right field. Rincones typically gets the start against right-handed pitching such as Bubba Chandler but owns an abysmal .111 average on the year. Meanwhile Hill has become a hero both with the bat and the glove in recent days.
With two runners on, Rincones kept things moving with a slow roller up the middle. Gonzales, at second base for the Pirates, made the sliding stop but could not record an out at any base, giving Rincones the infield single.
Justin Crawford then followed up with a single into left field, scoring Bohm and Realmuto to give the Phillies a 2-0 lead.
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Sánchez continued dealing into the fifth inning when he allowed a double from Billy Cook into left field, the second hit Sánchez allowed on the day. With two outs, Konnor Griffin threatened with a laced grounder destined for the third base line. An outstretched Alec Bohm made the stop on the play, throwing from his knee to get the out at first. The call on the field by first base umpire Cory Blaser was that Griffin was safe on the play. The call was overturned after the Phillies challenged it.
“Bohmer was outstanding today at third,” commented Mattingly. “Made some great plays. Stott made a nice play up the middle... It's good to see it when everything kind of works together.”
After the inning, Bobby Dickerson, the Phillies’ infield coach, had an exchange with Blaser, likely about that play. In response, Blaser ejected Dickerson from the ballgame.
After that, Sánchez cruised his way to a scoreless seven-inning outing. Needing only 92 pitches to do so, Sánchez kept the Pirates to three hits and two walks, striking out nine batters on the day.
The outing dropped Sánchez’s ERA back to 2.00 on the season, the second-lowest mark across Major League Baseball. If it weren’t for the owner of the lowest ERA, Jacob Misiorowski, Sánchez would be the definitive choice to start the MLB All-Star Game for the National League in Philadelphia in two weeks. Given that he is a representative of the host city, it is still possible Sánchez gets the call.
“He sets the tone tonight for us,” said Mattingly on Sánchez. “Attacking the zone, getting ahead in the count… that's obviously something we needed tonight.”
Jonathan Bowlan was called upon to pitch the top of the eighth for the Phillies.
Before Bowlan took the field, however, the Phillies had work to do. Rincones Jr. led off the inning with his first career walk before being removed for pinch runner Derek Hill. Crawford bunted Hill into scoring position before Trea Turner scored hill on a double into left field.
Kyle Schwarber kept the momentum going, slipping a single into left field, advancing Turner to third. Next up on the singles train was Bryce Harper, who drove a single into right field to score Turner.
While Brandon Marsh was unable to get a single, he did bat in Schwarber on a fielder’s choice up the middle, pinching Harper at second and giving the Phillies a 5-0 lead over the Pirates.
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With a few additional runs, Bowlan set out to the mound for the top of the eighth. Bowlan allowed a pair of baserunners on a leadoff walk and a single but managed to battle through the inning, striking out designated hitter Marcell Ozuna (formerly of the Braves) to end the inning.
Bryson Stott led off the Phillies’ half of the inning with a single into left field. Later in the inning, with two outs, Stott scored on Crawford’s third hit of the day, a single into center field. Turner then brought some fireworks of his own, ripping a first-pitch fastball 376 feet into right center field for his ninth home run of the season, a birthday dinger for the 33-year-old.
Up 8-0, Lou Trivino made his 2026 Phillies debut after being called up earlier that day. Trivino allowed a baserunner but got out of the inning unscathed, securing the 10th shutout win of the season for the Phillies.
With the victory, Sánchez became the second player this season to earn 10 wins on the year and the first starting pitcher to do so. The Phillies, meanwhile, improve back to 10 games over .500 at 48-38.
Fans stayed late at Citizens Bank Park for the first of two Xfinity fireworks shows.
The second will be Wednesday evening following the pitchers duel between Zack Wheeler and Paul Skenes, scheduled to start at 6:40 p.m.
