Get your game on, go play: Phillies 5, Padres 1

Another All-Star quality outing by Cristopher Sanchez lifts the Phillies to victory

Zack Wheeler is a lock to be a member of the National League All Star team later this month and might even end up starting it. But it feels safe to say that he won’t be the only Phillies starting pitcher on the squad, as Cristopher Sanchez is having an excellent season in his own right. On Wednesday night, Sanchez delivered another exemplary start, pitching seven strong innings, as the Phillies defeated the Padres 5-1.

Neither offense started off hot, as the first ten batters of the game were retired. The Phillies had runners on the corners with one out in the second but couldn’t get them home.

Sanchez was perfect through three innings, but that perfection ended in the fourth when Fernando Tatis, Jr reached base on an infield single. He advanced to third on a throwing error by first baseman Otto Kemp and then scored on Jackson Merrill’s RBI single to give the Padres a 1-0 lead.

The lead didn’t last long. Alec Bohm led off the bottom of the inning with a single, and two batters later, Max Kepler put one deep into the right field stands to make it 2-0.

The Phillies don’t get all that many home runs from their outfield, so it was a nice surprise that Brandon Marsh decided to hit one of his own leading off the fifth. (This thankfully took any awful baserunning decisions off the table.)

Later in the inning, Nick Castellanos made it a 4-1 game with an RBI single.

That was all the run support Sanchez needed. He only struck out five batters in his seven innings, but instead coaxed ground ball after ground ball. After Mick Abel’s abbreviated start earlier in the day, they needed innings out of Sanchez, and he gave them seven good ones.

With just 85 pitches, Sanchez might have been able to pitch into the eighth. But after an extended bottom of the seventh that saw the Phillies score their fifth run via Alec Bohm triple, Rob Thomson turned to the bullpen. It worked out well enough as Orion Kerkering and Matt Strahm both pitched scoreless innings to secure the victory.

With another series win secured, the Phillies will have the day off on Thursday before a matinee against the Reds on Independence Day. Perhaps Sanchez will spend his off day booking airfare to Atlanta for All Star week?