PHILADELPHIA — Having experienced scant success against Cristopher Sanchez the last time the Pirates faced him back on May 16, manager Don Kelly decided to change things up Tuesday night.
He stacked his lineup with right-handed hitters, who had a .710 OPS against Sanchez compared to a .352 mark for lefties. Kelly also sat Brandon Lowe and Ryan O’Hearn, regulars who've occasionally gotten rest days when the Pirates have faced lefty starters.
Similar to most anything opposing offenses try to do against Sanchez these days, it didn’t work and resulted in an 8-0 loss at Citizens Bank Park. The Pirates prevented Sanchez from throwing another complete game, but he still had their number the entire night.
The soon-to-be MLB All-Star worked seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits with two walks and nine strikeouts. Pittsburgh hitters swung and missed 23 times against Sanchez, who lowered his ERA to 2.00.
"He’s a good pitcher,' Kelly said. "I felt like we got out of our approach, trying to do too much. You have to get the ball up on him. I don’t think we did a very good job of doing that."
Sanchez doesn’t have a deep arsenal — he only throws three pitches — but his changeup-sinker combination disrupted their timing the entire night, resulting in just six balls with an exit velocity of 95 mph or greater.
In that May start at PNC Park, Sanchez threw his second career complete-game shutout, walking none and striking out 13. The Nationals roughed up Sanchez his last time out, scoring five earned runs in five innings, but this was a strong rebound for the 29-year-old left-hander.
Sanchez entered the game ranked first in MLB wins above replacement (per Baseball Reference) with 5.2. He was tied for first in quality starts (12), third in FIP (2.36) and fourth in ERA (2.13).
Due to his sinker, Sanchez has held opposing batters to an average launch angle of just 1.8 degrees, which ranks first in MLB. The Pirates found that out the hard way, as they recorded seven groundouts compared to just two in the air.
It continued a season-long trend for the Pirates, who have a .784 OPS against right-handed pitching (second in MLB) but fall to .677 (22nd) when facing southpaws.
"We have to keep going and find something because we have to be better against lefties," Kelly said.
Though Bubba Chandler’s outing had an ugly ending, he did have a quality start going through six innings, keeping the Pirates in a tight game against the Phillies and Sanchez.
Unfortunately for Chandler, the seventh got messy. He gave up a leadoff walk, then a double to shortstop Trea Turner and a single to Kyle Schwarber before exiting. Two of those five runs scored while Isaac Mattson was in the game.
"It was good," Chandler said. "I hate the way it ended, but that’s on me. Walked the leadoff hitter. Walks usually lead to runs. Didn’t execute worth a dang the last two batters I faced. Whatever."
Chandler hadn’t allowed more than two earned runs in a game in four starts dating back to June 7 at Atlanta, walking eight and striking out 18. Kelly cited Chandler's ability to slow things down and stay in the zone as areas of improvement, as well as how he's been able to command his breaking stuff.
On Tuesday, Chandler didn’t get overly fancy with his pitch-usage, using predominantly his four-seam fastball and slider. On a hot night, Chandler’s fastball velocity was a tick or two above normal, while he more than doubled his slider usage (17% to 36%).
Chandler allowed five earned runs in 6 1/3 innings, walking two and striking out six.
"I didn’t have any feel for it, but it was working," Chandler said of his slider. "Throw what they can’t hit."
The Pirates’ chances were certainly limited against Sanchez, who didn’t allow a hit until Nick Gonzales singled to right field in the fourth inning. They didn’t have multiple hits in any inning against him and were limited to just one extra-base hit: Billy Cook’s double in the fifth.
Sanchez struck out five of the first six for the first time in his career. Pittsburgh had leadoff walks in the second and third, but they were unable to do anything with them.
The Phillies took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning when center fielder Justin Crawford slapped a two-run single to left off Chandler. The 1-2 fastball thrown wasn’t a strike. But Crawford still got enough of his bat on the ball to hit it 86.9 mph and find a hole.
"I threw a ball four balls outside, and he swung and hit it," Chandler said. "You just gotta tip your cap."
Pittsburgh had not been shut out in a span of 38 games dating back to May 19 at St. Louis. The last time the Pirates had a longer streak within a single season was Aug. 21-Oct. 1, 2023.
Tuesday was a tough loss, but it's also an opportunity to show some resilience. The series is tied at one win apiece, and the Pirates have Paul Skenes on the mound Wednesday.
"We’ve been resilient," Kelly said. "We need to find a way. They have a good pitcher tomorrow. We have a good pitcher tomorrow [Zack Wheeler]. We need to find a way to bounce back."
Jason Mackey: Jason.Mackey@pirates.com and @JMackey_PGH on X.