PHILADELPHIA -- Cristopher Sánchez had been so calm and so focused for so long on Tuesday night at Citizens Bank Park that he finally needed to let loose.
So when he struck out Darell Hernaiz to get out of a jam in the seventh inning of Tuesday night’s 9-1 victory over the A’s, he screamed, flexed and slapped his glove a few times as he walked off the mound.
“It’s just letting a little bit of emotion out,” Sánchez said afterward.
Sánchez enjoyed his best start of the season as the Phillies improved to 7-1 under interim manager Don Mattingly. Sánchez allowed three hits and one walk while striking out 10 in eight innings. He is the first Phillies pitcher to toss eight innings this year. Phillies starters have a 1.53 ERA in the last eight games, striking out 57 and walking 10 in 47 innings.
“What can I say?” Sánchez said. “We’re hard workers. That’s what we do. And we like a challenge.”
The Phillies’ offense had been sputtering since a six-run first inning on Sunday in Miami. Bryce Harper’s solo home run in the third inning was the game’s only run through six, when Sánchez allowed back-to-back singles to start the seventh.
But Sánchez struck out Tyler Soderstrom swinging on a 1-2 changeup for the first out and Austin Wynns grounded out to Alec Bohm on a first-pitch sinker for the second out.
Hernaiz struck out swinging on a 3-2 changeup to end the inning, letting the bat drop out of his hands as he finished his back swing.
It’s a frustration that hitters experience frequently when they face Sánchez.
“He puts you in a bind,” Mattingly said. “He’s got the sinker that he throws to both sides of the plate. And the change that looks just like it. The slider comes in. So he puts you in a bind at the bottom of the zone.
“You're trying to push him up. But when he's getting ahead in the count like that, he's forcing you to swing the bat. And then you got to deal with three different pitches there with the sinker, the change and the breaking ball. It’s like they all see the tunnel right out of the same spot. And that's really what – where it gets tough.”
Sánchez entered Tuesday at 2-2 with a 2.90 ERA. He was tied with teammate Jesús Luzardo for third in the National League with 1.2 WAR, according to FanGraphs.
But Sánchez had also walked 13 batters in 40 1/3 innings, giving him his highest walk rate (7.2 percent) since 2022 (9.6 percent) and his highest WHIP (1.51) since 2021 (1.82), when he had trouble throwing strikes as a rookie.
He was very good, but he wasn’t on.
He said he had been working toward being on over the past couple weeks.
“I like chasing perfection,” he said.
Sánchez finished the eighth inning at 97 pitches. Mattingly said he planned for Jhoan Duran -- activated off the IL before the game -- to pitch the ninth, so there was no chance Sánchez was going to finish the game.
Well, unless he had a no-hitter going.
Maybe another time.
“He backed that up tonight,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “He’s definitely one of the top pitchers in the game right now. The stuff looked electric from the dugout and, obviously, the performance kind of backs that up as well.”