It isn\u2019t often that a Phillies pitcher gives up a game-tying run and receives a standing ovation so long and loud it can be heard all the way to Center City.<\/p>\n
But it isn\u2019t often that a pitcher accomplishes what Cristopher Sanchez did over the last month or so.<\/p>\n
The gifted Phillies left-hander ran his team-record scoreless streak to 50 2\/3 innings \u2013 fifth-best of all-time \u2013 before it ended in the team\u2019s 3-2 win over the San Diego Padres on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
Sanchez went all of May \u2013 and six innings of June \u2013 without giving up a run.<\/p>\n
When he finally did, the Citizens Bank Park crowd of 40,453 rose to its feet and saluted him for more than a minute.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat felt incredible,\u201d the 29-year-old Dominican said with Diego D\u2019Aniello, the team\u2019s Spanish-language translator, by his side. \u201cThere was so much going on in my mind at that point. But I just tried to stay calm and focused. I\u2019ll be forever grateful to these fans and this city. The best fans in the world. Whether I\u2019m here or not, they\u2019ll forever be the best fans in baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanchez began the game with six scoreless innings, passing Hall of Famer Bob Gibson (47 consecutive scoreless innings in 1968) in the third inning. The crowd was captivated not only by the close game \u2013 the Phils took a 1-0 lead on doubles by Bryson Stott and Adolis Garcia in the fifth \u2013 but also by Sanchez\u2019 historic climb.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could feel it every inning,\u201d manager Don Mattingly said. \u201cThey knew what was going on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pitching with a 1-0 lead, Sanchez got the first two outs in the seventh. He then gave up a double down the left-field line to Ty France and a game-tying base hit to left to Jackson Merrill as the streak ended.<\/p>\n
After the crowd stopped cheering, Sanchez got a fly ball to left for the third out. He punched his glove in frustration as he walked off the mound. Later, he admitted that there were times he thought about the streak during games. But at home, he asked his family not to talk to him about it. Clearly, it meant something to him \u2013 as it should have.<\/p>\n
\u201cI enjoyed it a lot,\u201d he said. \u201cI loved every minute of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
After seeing Sanchez finish second in the NL Cy Young race last season, teammates have come to expect greatness from him.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing against the streak or anything, but he\u2019s been doing it for so long, it feels like he\u2019s been on a streak the last couple of years,\u201d Bryce Harper said before the game. \u201cIt\u2019s just all come together for him and it\u2019s a lot of fun to be part of. It\u2019s really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though the streak ended with the game-tying run in the top of the seventh, Sanchez was still able to get the win. So many times over the last two seasons, he\u2019s picked up his teammates on nights when the bats were quiet. On Wednesday night, when Sanchez needed a pick-me-up after the streak ended, his batterymate, J.T. Realmuto, and team power boss Kyle Schwarber were there with solo homers in the bottom of the seventh to put the Phils up by two runs. They needed both homers because reliever Brad Keller gave up a run in the eighth as the Padres made it a one-run game before Jhoan Duran closed it out.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was still kicking myself for calling that fastball to Merrill,\u201d Realmuto said of the streak-breaking hit. \u201cSo, I was happy to get in the box and put a good swing on one.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was definitely the most special run I\u2019ve been a part of with a starting pitcher. It\u2019s not something I\u2019m sure I\u2019ll see again in my playing days. Definitely something I\u2019ll remember.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before Merrill\u2019s RBI hit, Sanchez had not allowed a run since the first inning of his April 30 start against San Francisco.<\/p>\n
Only Orel Hershiser (59 innings in 1988), Don Drysdale (58 innings in 1968) and Walter Johnson (55 2\/3 innings in 1913) and Jack Coombs (53 innings in 1910) have longer scoreless streaks than Sanchez, who is tops all-time among left-handers.<\/p>\n
The Phillies have beaten the Padres five times in the last week \u2013 Sanchez has two of those wins \u2013 to improve to a season-best three games over .500 at 32-29. Sanchez is 7-2 and leads the majors with a 1.46 ERA. Earlier on Wednesday, he was named National League Pitcher of the Month for May. He pitched 39 scoreless innings over five starts in the month. He struck out 45 and walked just three. On Wednesday night, he started off June with seven innings of four-hit ball. He walked just one and struck out eight. Maybe a new streak starts Monday night in Toronto.<\/p>\n
\u201cSanchie put himself in the history books, the Phillies history book, the longest by a lefty,\u201d Mattingly said. \u201cMy vocabulary isn\u2019t good enough for him right now, but it\u2019s been amazing to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n
And amazing to live.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is something I never imagined in my life that I would do,\u201d Sanchez said. \u201cThanks to God and the work we put in here, we were able to make this happen.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It isn\u2019t often that a Phillies pitcher gives up a game-tying run and receives a standing ovation so…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":714240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,227211,85],"class_list":["post-714239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-phillies-analysis","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=714239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/714240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=714239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=714239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=714239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}