Cristopher Sánchez is THE man! My goodness. Even though the Phillies lost in pretty depressing fashion, I'm surprisingly excited by what happened yesterday from a different perspective.
Cristopher Sánchez is totally locked in right now. He's firmly in the Cy Young discussion and not just as an honorable mention, he's a legit contender!
Sánchez tossed an absolute gem against the Guardians yesterday, by pitching eight scoreless innings! The only unfortunate part about it had nothing to do with him, but with the Phillies offense and Guardians pitcher Gavin Williams. Williams totally matched Sánchez on the mound by tossing eight scoreless innings himself! Unreal! Pitcher's duels aren't all that uncommon but, this duel really felt like a genuine 1 vs 1 duel! Too cool, they really were the main characters yesterday LOL. The brutal part was the fact that Phillies closer Jhoan Durán, who's normally good, gave up a solo homer in the top of the ninth. The Phillies couldn't respond and that was the game. 1-0 loss, rough. One team had to lose!
BUT, back to Cristopher Sánchez. Sánchez's excellent performance is bigger than just one single good night of pitching. After his eight scoreless innings yesterday he surpassed Cliff Lee for second most consecutive scoreless innings pitched in franchise hostory! Lee had 34 straight in 2011, and now Sánchez sits at 37 2/3! The all time Phillies record is 41 innings set by Grover Cleveland Alexander in 1911!!! We're talking before any World War people! He's so close!
If Sánchez breaks that record, it would be mind-blowing. It is fascinating on a lot of levels. Grover Cleveland Alexander was born in 1887 and Cristopher Sánchez was born in 1996! The MLB record is 59 set by Orel Hershiser in 1988.
So despite the loss, history could be in the making!
Zack Wheeler is on the mound today, let's hope he's as sharp as ever and the Phillies offense wakes up! The Phillies have now dipped under .500 once again and have lost three straight.
It's been a strange season, but if the Phillies are to be great, maybe Sánchez and Wheeler will lead the way and be the anchors of this team! Ya never know!