Cristopher Sanchez stunk the other day in Kansas City. We mentioned pitch tipping as the main reason the Royals were able to put a beatdown on him, but the simple fact was that his stuff wasn’t good, he left it over the middle of the plate and was hammered as a result.
Tonight, against the Tigers, he was back to the form that may have earned him a start at home on Tuesday in the All-Star Game, the Phillies won and they enter Sunday with Zack Wheeler on the mound to try and take another series.
The
scoring started in the third when Derek Hill reached on an error, stole two bases and scored on a sacrifice fly to give them the early lead. In the bottom of the innings, Hill was able to preserve the lead with another spectacular play in centerfield to rob a certain RBI double.
In the fourth, Brandon Marsh walked to lead off, then went to second on a one out single by Bryson Stott. J.T. Realmuto followed with a double that plated both and pushed the lead to 3-0.
Hill then drove in Realmuto with a single and the score went to 4-0. From there, Sanchez settled in and cruised. He allowed a solo home run in the fifth to Eduardo Valencia, who seems to be on a career beginning heater, but that was about all that Detroit could muster. Sanchez just had it all working yet again after that minor blip against the Royals on Monday.
It did get a little hairy in the eighth when Sanchez was brought back out to start the inning only to allow the first two runners on and get replaced by Jonathan Bowlan, who promptly hit Dillon Dingler to load the bases with no one out. Bowlan then got Spencer Torkelson to ground into a double play, one of three on the night, that helped quell the threat, even if a run did score. Bowlan finished the inning, then was followed by Jhoan Duran slamming the door shut in the ninth without much of a threat.
Watching Sanchez be so bad this week was jarring a bit, but tonight reinforced why he should still be considered a favorite to win the Cy Young award. He kept Detroit off balance, found his stuff and stopped the offense in its tracks.
Wonderful to watch.
