Sánchez's streak ends at 50 2/3 scoreless innings -- 5th-longest all-time, tops for a lefty

PHILADELPHIA -- It's not often a pitcher gets a standing ovation for giving up a game-tying hit in the seventh inning.

Then again, it's not often anyone does what Cristopher Sánchez has over the past five weeks.

Sánchez's historic scoreless streak finally came to an end in Wednesday night's 3-2 win over the Padres at Citizens Bank Park, when the Phillies ace allowed an RBI single in the seventh inning. That snapped his streak of 50 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings, which is the longest in Phillies history -- and the fifth-longest single-season streak since 1893 (when the mound moved to its current distance).

• The 10 longest scoreless-inning streaks

Sánchez seemed well on his way to turning in yet another scoreless outing before finally running into some trouble in the seventh. Ty France ripped a two-out double down the left-field line, then scored one batter later when Jackson Merrill singled through the left side.

The game came to a brief halt as the Phillies faithful acknowledged Sánchez with a raucous ovation. He ultimately had to step off the mound, at which point he finally showed some emotion when he flashed a smile toward the home dugout.

Sánchez then promptly finished off the frame to end his night with eight strikeouts over seven innings of one-run ball, lowering his season ERA to 1.46.

"You don't get to see things like this very often," interim manager Don Mattingly said before the game. "Just historically, obviously the Phillies have never seen it this far, but even nationally in the game itself. So it's one of those things that it's not happening very often. ... I don't know if I've seen anything that's really been better than this."

During his latest gem, Sánchez leaped over legends such as Cy Young (45 innings), Zack Greinke (45 2/3) and Bob Gibson (47), among others. Only four pitchers have a longer recorded streak -- and two of those four played during the Dead Ball Era:

Longest single-season scoreless streak since 1893

1. Orel Hershiser: 59 IP (1988)
2. Don Drysdale: 58 IP (1968)
3. Walter Johnson: 55 2/3 IP (1913)
4. Jack Coombs: 53 IP (1910)
5. Cristopher Sánchez, 50 2/3 (2026)

"Well, it doesn't get any better than that," president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said. "I mean, it's one of the best in baseball history. I've been around plenty of great pitchers, which includes him. But it's phenomenal what he's been doing."

To that point, teammate Bryce Harper said the guys in the clubhouse really haven't been thinking too much about the streak because this is just Sánchez being Sánchez.

"Nothing against the streak or anything," Harper said before the game, "but he's been doing this for so long that it feels like he's been on a streak for a couple years, you know what I'm saying?"

Sánchez's streak ultimately came to an end just hours after the left-hander was named the National League Pitcher of the Month for May. He had 45 strikeouts and walked only three batters over 39 scoreless innings to join Hershiser (September 1988) as the only true starters in MLB history to record an entire scoreless month (minimum four starts).

Hershiser, however, will remain unmatched for the scoreless streak record ... for now anyway.