BALTIMORE — Cristopher Sánchez finished the sixth inning on Saturday night with the bases loaded and a one-run lead. He walked off the mound with his head high, but before he reached the visitors’ dugout at Camden Yards, he snapped his head toward the Orioles’ dugout and shouted.
Sánchez is a good pitcher. He’s a good listener, too.
“Yeah, they were yelling some stuff, some things,” Sánchez said via the team’s interpreter following Saturday night’s 5-0 victory over the Orioles at Camden Yards. “But what they don’t know is those types of things motivate me. I saw one of their coaches talking a little, but you know, again, I take that as fuel. That fuels me, and I just get motivated about that.”
Sánchez helped the Phillies snap a four-game losing streak, giving them their fourth win in 14 games since the All-Star break. He tossed six scoreless innings, but it was a weird one in that he allowed just two hits and struck out 11, but also tied a career high with five walks.
Sánchez is just the fifth Phillies pitcher since at least 1900 with 10+ strikeouts and 5+ walks in a scoreless outing. Tommy Greene’s no-hitter on May 23, 1991, is one of them. He struck out 10 and walked seven. José de Jesús (Aug. 31, 1991), Harvey Haddix (Aug. 4, 1957) and Earl Moore (Oct. 3, 1910) are the others.
“Not weird, not rare,” Sánchez said. “Just an excellent outing. We won.”
Sánchez struck out the side in the third inning. He walked the bases loaded in the fourth, but struck out Leody Taveras looking on a 1-2 sinker to end the inning. It was just the third time in Sánchez’s career he had walked three batters in an inning, and the first time since May 24, 2025.
Sánchez loaded the bases again with two outs in the sixth, thanks to a couple more walks. He lost the feel for his changeup and slider in the final frame, but he got out of the inning on a Taveras groundout to shortstop Trea Turner.
“After the inning ended, I just took a deep breath and thanked God,” Sánchez said.
Sánchez is 14-4 with a 2.61 ERA in 23 starts. He ended Saturday with the Major League lead in wins and his bWAR (5.5) was the highest in the league for pitchers.
He took a step in the right direction on Saturday.
“Obviously, the fastball [is in the] upper-90s, and the amount of run he gets on the sinker is pretty impressive,” Orioles left fielder Taylor Ward said. “There’s not many guys that can do that. I think that, just with the combo of the changeup looking similar to it, guys may be trying to cheat to the fastball a little bit. And then, with the slider going the other way, it’s just tough. It makes sense why he’s having a good year.”
