The Philadelphia Phillies’ starting pitchers have mentioned several times this season that they are a competitive group, constantly looking to outdo each other on the mound.
After Zack Wheeler delivered a strong performance on Monday, Cristopher Sanchez will look to match that effort on Tuesday when the Phillies continue their home series against the San Diego Padres.
Wheeler struck out 10 in eight scoreless innings as Philadelphia opened the series with a 4-0 triumph. That sets a high bar for Sanchez (6-2, 2.79 ERA), who is coming off a terrific month of June.
“Hopefully Sanchy can beat me tomorrow,” Wheeler said after lifting the Phillies to their third win in the past four games.
Sanchez had a 1.85 ERA in five starts last month. In his most recent outing, he limited the Houston Astros to one run over six-plus innings on Thursday in a no-decision. Sanchez struck out 11 batters without issuing a walk.
The combination of an upper-90s fastball with his deceiving changeup has put the left-hander in position for a potential berth on the National League All-Star team. It would be his second straight All-Star selection.
“He’s so good against lefties, it makes you put the righties in there — but then his changeup is so devastating to them,” Phillies reliever Matt Strahm said. “So it’s a great equalizer for the right-handed batters.”
In two lifetime starts against San Diego, Sanchez is 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA.
Sanchez will take on a Padres team that managed only one extra-base hit on Monday. Xander Bogaerts registered two singles and a double for San Diego, which has totaled 10 runs over its past five games.
“I thought we strung together some really pretty good at-bats, quite frankly,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said after the shutout defeat. “We scratched and clawed.”
Meanwhile, Philadelphia manager Rob Thomson was pleased after his team scored twice on infield singles — including a tremendous baserunning effort by Bryson Stott to score from second base on an infield hit. The Phillies also did a nice job drawing walks, stealing bases and advancing runners in the victory.
“Those are the things you need to do to win games against good pitching (and in playoff games). … I thought we did a good job, and we’ve been doing that the last couple of days,” Thomson said.
The Phillies will look to ride the momentum against a familiar foe in Nick Pivetta (8-2, 3.36 ERA), who pitched for Philadelphia from 2017-20. He has made two starts against his former team, going 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA.
More recently, Pivetta silenced the Washington Nationals over seven innings on Wednesday. He gave up no runs, three hits and no walks while striking out 10.
“He was fantastic,” Shildt said. “Everything was on display. … He was lights-out.”
On Tuesday, Pivetta likely will face Philadelphia slugger Bryce Harper, who returned Monday after spending more than three weeks on the injured list with a wrist injury. He went 0-for-2 with a walk and was hit by a pitch in his first game since June 5.
–Field Level Media
