Sánchez continues Cy Young chase in primetime showdown vs. Yankees

PHILADELPHIA -- A couple of Cristopher Sánchez's Phillies teammates are suddenly right alongside him in the National League Cy Young Award race.

Co-ace Zack Wheeler is 10-2 with a 2.16 ERA, 117 strikeouts and a 0.88 WHIP in 100 innings. Then there's Jesús Luzardo, whose 152 strikeouts rank second in the National League -- not to mention he has a 1.94 ERA over his past 13 starts.

Sánchez, meanwhile, is tied for first among all NL pitchers in wins (12), he ranks second in innings (132 2/3), third in K's (151) and sixth in ERA (2.65). His 5.5 bWAR leads all pitchers, while Wheeler (5.1) ranks second.

Of course, all three are still looking up at Brewers phenom Jacob Misiorowski, who leads all pitchers in ERA (1.57), strikeouts (173) and WHIP (0.77) heading into his Sunday afternoon start against the Rockies.

But with two months left in the season, the Cy Young race is far from over.

Sánchez will look to continue building his case in Sunday night's primetime showdown against a potent Yankees offense.

That comes on the heels of facing the Dodgers' stacked lineup on Monday night in his last start. Sánchez handled that assignment well enough, limiting L.A. to three runs (two earned) while striking out seven over 5 1/3 innings.

It was an encouraging outing to start the second half after Sánchez had struggled in his All-Star Game start. He had also been tagged for nine runs on 12 hits in just 3 1/3 innings in his July 6 start against the Royals, though he bounced back five days later with seven innings of two-run ball against the Tigers.

Overall, the Phillies are 15-6 in games started by Sánchez this season, including 12-3 over his past 15 outings. They're 42-16 (.724) in games started by either Sánchez, Wheeler or Luzardo -- the equivalent of a 117-win pace.