MILWAUKEE -- The National League Cy Young Award was never going to be won -- or lost -- in one mid-June series.
Still, Cristopher Sánchez's case took a bit of a hit over just a 48-hour stretch this weekend at American Family Field.
The Phillies ace turned in his worst outing in nearly two months in Sunday afternoon's 4-0 series-finale loss to the Brewers. Sánchez allowed four runs on eight hits (including two homers) and one walk over 5 2/3 innings. He had a season-low three strikeouts.
“Everything was off today, especially my energy,” said Sánchez, who added he didn’t sleep well the night before. “It wasn’t like it usually is. Not to use that as an excuse. Just got to go out there on days like this and try to battle.”
The rare misstep by Sánchez came just two days after Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski turned in a 15-strikeout, one-hit shutout against the Phillies on Friday night. That gem lowered Misiorowski's ERA to an MLB-best 1.34, while Sánchez's ERA jumped to 1.82 on Sunday.
This marked Sánchez's shortest outing since April 23 against the Cubs. He had gone at least seven innings in seven straight starts -- a stretch in which he had a minuscule 0.51 ERA over 53 innings.
In any other season, he'd likely still be the frontrunner to win his first Cy Young Award -- and to start next month's All-Star Game in Philadelphia.
But this isn't any other season.
While Sánchez was busy putting together an historic month of May in which he did not allow a single run, Misiorowski was matching him nearly step for step. The Brewers phenom has a 0.17 ERA over eight starts since the start of May.
“I try not to focus on any of that right now. I try to keep my focus on giving my best effort and putting my team in the best position to win every five days,” Sánchez said. “ ... Just try to not think too much about the Cy Young or the All-Star Game.”
Sánchez still has half of the season to make up the ground he lost this weekend in the NL Cy Young race. However, he likely has only five more starts to convince NL All-Star manager Dave Roberts to give him the starting nod in front of the hometown crowd.
And though it may not be his focus, Sánchez isn’t going to pretend it wouldn’t be a meaningful honor.
“But at the same time, who doesn’t want to win a Cy Young, right? Who doesn’t want to go to the All-Star Game or start it?” he said. “But at the end of the day, I just try to do my job in the best way possible and control what I can control. Those decisions are out of my control.”
Of course, both Sánchez and the Phillies have their sights set on bigger things than the All-Star Game or a Cy Young Award.
The Phils have battled their way back into the postseason picture after a tumultuous start, but they’ve still struggled to prove themselves against the best of the best. The Phillies are just 3-9 against the Brewers, Dodgers and Braves -- the three current division leaders in the NL.
The Phillies’ biggest issue has been an inability to generate any offense against the opposing starters whom they would likely be facing in October. That was the case once again on Sunday, when Milwaukee left-hander Kyle Harrison tossed six scoreless innings.
The Phillies have faced some of the top arms from those contenders: Misiorowski and Harrison (Brewers); Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki and Justin Wrobleski (Dodgers); and Chris Sale, Bryce Elder, Grant Holmes and Martín Pérez (Braves).
Those starters have combined for a 1.43 ERA over their 10 starts vs. Philadelphia, which hit just .160 (39-for-244) against them.
“If there's another matchup down the road between any of those [pitchers], who knows how it's going to go?” said Trea Turner, who went 1-for-13 with six K's in the series to drop his season average to .219. “So we'll keep trying to get better offensively.”
It’s possible Turner gets a day off against the Marlins this week to reset. The Phillies are about to get a chance to reset in a sense, too.
Starting Monday, they play 29 straight games against teams currently outside of the postseason picture. The Phils don’t play another current playoff-positioned team until July 20, when they host the Dodgers for three games.
“I mean, I feel good about our club,” Mattingly said. “We're going to be able to score.”