Thursday, October 1, 2026
73 ° Clear
73 ° Clear
Cristopher Sánchez has been one of the best pitchers in baseball in 2026. Coming into Wednesday Night, Sánchez had a 2.58 ERA with 207 strikeouts over 181.1 IP.
He's been in the Cy Young discussion along with Milwaukee's Jacob Misiorowski.
On Wednesday night, he looked more like a September call-up than the man who started the All-Star Game for the National League. The Houston Astros had him figured out. All of the damage came in the third and fourth innings.
In the third, Sánchez allowed a leadoff single to Cam Smith but retired the next two batters. With two outs, all hell broke loose. Yordan Alvarez doubled. Isaac Paredes homered. Jose Altuve doubled for his 2500th career hit. And Yainer Diaz singled. All told, four runs crossed the plate.
It felt like a knockout punch of an inning, but the Phillies stood up in the bottom of the frame. JT Realmuto led off with a single. After a Tuesday night of baserunning mistakes, the Phillies pulled off a perfect hit and run with Bryan De La Cruz. With two strikes, the Phillies put De La Cruz in motion, and Trea Turner found a hole, scoring one.
Bryce Harper and Luis Arraez followed with singles to tie things up at four runs apiece. This all came against Hunter Brown, one of the American League's brightest pitchers.
The Astros quickly responded with a Cam Smith two-run home run in the top of the fourth. At that point, Sánchez had given up six earned runs, and things weren't feeling like a win in Citizens Bank Park.
The environment changed quickly as Sánchez locked in and got through six innings for the Phillies. In the fifth, Trea Turner hit a solo homer to right field to cut the lead to one run.
In the sixth, the Phillies exploded against the Astros' bullpen. Arraez led off with a triple. After an error, Edmundo Sosa had a pinch-hit single. Justin Crawford followed with a single that needed replay, loading the bases. De La Cruz walked in a run. The inning came to a crescendo as Kyle Schwarber cleared the bases with a grand slam, the 10th of his career.
Their 11 runs scored were the most by the Phillies since July 26th against the Yankees.
The bullpen allowed one run in relief of Sánchez. With a four-run lead, the Phillies still brought in closer Jhoan Duran to shut the door. Bryson Stott sealed the game by catching a Yordan Alvarez pop-up in foul ground while falling down.
Sánchez recorded his 17th win of the season and his 12th home win of the season, tying Roy Halladay for the most in Citizens Bank Park history (2010).
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