Due to the unusual Saturday-Monday scheduling, you might have forgotten that the Phillies would be wrapping up the series against the Kansas City Royals with an afternoon game today. If so, don’t feel bad. You didn’t miss anything worth seeing (if you’re a Phillies fan, that is. Royals fans probably greatly enjoyed the game). Heck, the Phillies themselves barely showed up as they suffered a 15-1 bludgeoning.
After a listless effort on Sunday, you figured that the Phillies were still in good position to win the series. After all, the Royals are having an awful season, and the Phillies had ace Cristopher Sanchez on the mound. What could possibly go wrong?
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As it turns out, just about everything! Sanchez turned in the worst start of his career, there was a critical error in the field, and the offense left a ton of runners on base.
The game actually started off in promising fashion. Trea Turner led off the game with a double (don’t worry, he’d undo any good will shortly), Bryce Harper walked, and Alec Bohm made it 1-0 with a double to center field. But after Brandon Marsh struck out and Edmundo Sosa walked, Bryson Stott grounded out to leave the bases loaded.
Sanchez was clearly off from the start as he walked leadoff hitter Lane Thomas on four pitches. After getting an out and giving up another single, it looked like he would be able to escape the early jam when Caglianone hit a ball to second that looked like a tailor-made double play ball. But after securing the out at second, Turner’s throw went wide of first base. (Please see the below explanation as to why the runs in the inning were earned despite this error.)
Sanchez really could have used that out. Immediately afterwards, he fell behind three straight hitters and gave up singles to all of them. Facing backup catcher Luke Maile seemed like an opportunity to minimize the damage. Instead, Maile maximized the damage with a three-run home run.
The Phillies had a chance to pick up their ace and make it a slugfest in the second. They loaded the bases once again, bringing Bohm to the plate with two outs. This time, he was unable to get a run home. He grounded out to bring the Phillies’ left on base total to six. (They tied the record for most runners left on base through two innings!)
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Sanchez did not settle in after that bad first inning. A second inning Salvador Perez home run made it 7-1, an RBI double by Tyler Tolbert made it 8-1 in the third, and a Thomas home run in the fourth made it 9-1.
Manager Don Mattingly tried to get some innings out of Sanchez, but when the next two batters had base hits, he had no choice but to pull the pitcher. Sanchez’s final line: 3.1 IP, 12 hits, 9 runs, 1 K, and three home runs allowed. Good thing the All-Star selections have been made already.
The rest of the game was soaked up by the lesser lights of the Phillies’ bullpen as well as an inning by Garrett Stubbs. That went about as well as you’d expect.
Offensively, the Phillies didn’t really give up. They kept getting runners on base, thanks to ten hits and seven walks. But they weren’t able to get any of those runners home after the first.
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The Phillies will next travel to Cincinnati to take on the Reds. I’d say the Phillies have a good chance to end their two-game losing streak with Zack Wheeler scheduled to start on Tuesday, but after watching Cristopher Sanchez get demolished, I don’t think we can safely assume anything.
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