KANSAS CITY \u2013 Cristopher S\u00e1nchez\u2019 second-to-last audition to win the starting assignment for the National League in next week\u2019s All-Star Game did not go well Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n
In fact, it was awful.<\/p>\n
Or, to use his explanation: \u201cIt was crap.\u201d<\/p>\n
The left-hander was rocked for nine runs in 3 1\/3 innings as the Phillies were hammered, 15-1, by the lowly Kansas City Royals for the second day in a row at Kauffman Stadium. S\u00e1nchez was tagged for a career-high three home runs, all on his vaunted changeup.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s tough to see,\u201d he said. \u201cThey hit three homers off me with my pitch.<\/p>\n
\u201cCredit to them. They got me. They made me pay.\u201d<\/p>\n
As bad as the results were for S\u00e1nchez, things might have gone differently for him and the Phillies had one of the team\u2019s gnawing concerns not reared its head.<\/p>\n
You hear a lot about the bullpen, the back-end of the starting rotation and the lack of a strong right-handed hitting outfielder as being the Phillies\u2019 biggest flaws.<\/p>\n
But Trea Turner\u2019s defense at shortstop is a significant deficiency that the club cannot hide from.<\/p>\n
Turner, who entered the game as the lowest-ranked shortstop in the majors with minus-8 defensive runs saved, according to Fangraphs, threw away a potential inning-ending double-play ball that opened the door for the Royals to score six first-inning runs against S\u00e1nchez. Turner was charged with an error, his 12th, allowing the runners to advance. But since a double play can\u2019t be assumed, all the runs against S\u00e1nchez in that inning were ruled earned. His ERA jumped from 2.00 to 2.44 in the course of one inning and to 2.62 by the end of the day.<\/p>\n
Now, S\u00e1nchez should not be let off the hook here. He clearly did not do a good job limiting the damage. He allowed four straight hits, including a three-run homer, after Turner\u2019s error. But not getting that inning-ending double play was a game-changer.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely,\u201d Turner confessed. \u201cIt\u2019s a play you\u2019ve got to make. Who knows how that game ends up if he gets out of that inning clean and gets on a roll. He\u2019s thrown the ball so well this year. If he gets out of that, he could easily put up five, six, seven scoreless.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turner said he rushed the throw.<\/p>\n
S\u00e1nchez will make his final start before the All-Star break on Saturday in Detroit. He\u2019s probably still in the driver\u2019s seat to make the start next Tuesday night in Philadelphia. But, recently, some of the luster of his run to the All-Star Game has been stripped away. He has allowed 14 runs in 8 1\/3 innings in two of his last three starts, both on the road. Beyond that, he\u2019s allowed 18 runs in 14 innings in his last three road starts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have no answer why,\u201d S\u00e1nchez said. \u201cIt\u2019s something we have to improve on.\u201d<\/p>\n
S\u00e1nchez added that he feels \u201csuper bien\u201d \u2013 great \u2013 physically.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m surprised to have such an outing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The start was the shortest by S\u00e1nchez in over a year. He exited after two innings against the Mets on April 22 of last season, but that was due to forearm soreness. The 12 hits allowed by S\u00e1nchez matched a season and career high. His sinking fastball averaged 94.8 mph, down a tick from its 95.2 season average. His signature changeup produced six swings and misses, but there were times when it was up in the zone and the Royals didn\u2019t miss it.<\/p>\n
As for Turner, the day started off promising. He opened the game with a double off the center field wall and scored on a double by Alec Bohm as the Phillies took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. The Phils looked to have some momentum going but everything changed in the bottom of the first inning.<\/p>\n
S\u00e1nchez said Turner\u2019s error had nothing to do with his poor outing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose things happen,\u201d he said. \u201cNo one wants to make an error or fail in a game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kansas City lefty Noah Cameron pitched five innings and, despite walking five, did not allow another run after the first. He used a six-pitch mix and a fastball that averaged just 92.7 mph to hold the Phillies at bay.<\/p>\n
Phillies hitters were just 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position and they left 15 men on base, including the bases loaded twice early in the game. They were out-hit, 22-10. Yes, the Royals feasted on the bullpen, as well.<\/p>\n
“We had chances to creep back in but couldn’t get the hit we needed,” manager Don Mattingly said.<\/p>\n
Turner led the Phillies with three hits, but his 12th\u00a0error loomed large.<\/p>\n
Turner is in the fourth year of an 11-year contract that runs through 2033. He made 40 errors his first two seasons with the Phils. His defense improved last season and he made just eight. Now, the defense is an issue again. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has said in the past that the club has not considered moving Turner to the outfield. The team might have to think about it before long because it\u2019s getting difficult to hide from this gnawing concern.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I\u2019ve gotten some tough plays lately, haven\u2019t made as many as I want to make,\u201d Turner said. \u201cI don\u2019t think this year has been nearly as good as last. I feel a little sped up. I feel last year the game slowed down quite a bit.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s still in there. I feel like I can do it. I feel like at times I\u2019ve made some good plays in the last few weeks. But then it\u2019s just been that one hiccup here or there that\u2019s been costly. So, keep working and try to get back to last year as much as I can. I have to be more consistent for those guys out there and make more plays.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KANSAS CITY \u2013 Cristopher S\u00e1nchez\u2019 second-to-last audition to win the starting assignment for the National League in next…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":785282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,259266,82],"class_list":["post-785281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-phillies-analysis","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=785281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/785282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=785281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=785281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=785281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}