Categories: 2023 Postgame Recaps

Cristopher Sánchez shines again as Phillies become first team to sweep the Rays in 2023

Cristopher Sánchez pitched well tonight. (Cheryl Pursell)

Final Score: Phillies 3, Rays 1

Bullpen games have become a common occurrence across Major League Baseball in recent years. Sometimes, teams use them to fill out the back end of their rotation when they don’t have a fifth starter — like the Phillies did for a stretch earlier this year. Other times, using relievers to cover all nine innings of a game becomes a part of a team’s identity — like it has with the Rays.

Philadelphia hasn’t used a bullpen game over the last few weeks because left-hander Cristopher Sánchez has pitched well since joining the club’s rotation in the middle of June. Tampa Bay, on the other hand, had their second bullpen game in as many nights at Tropicana Field tonight.

The Phillies were able to feast on the Rays bullpen in last night’s 8-4 victory, but did not have the same level of success tonight. They scored just one run on four hits while striking out 13 times against six different Rays pitchers through the first nine innings. However, after a 1-2-3 top of the 10th, the offense broke through in the 11th.

Darick Hall’s fifth-inning home run, which came against the Rays third pitcher of the night and former Phillie Jake Diekman, was Philadelphia’s lone scoring play in “regulation.”

Hall’s homer was also the last hit for the Phillies lineup until Kyle Schwaber’s go-ahead single six innings later in the top half of the 11th:

Trea Turner followed that up with an RBI single of his own to drive in the third and final run of the night for Rob Thomson’s squad:

As for Sánchez, the 26-year-old continued his recent streak of strong performances. He pitched six innings and allowed just one run on four hits with two strikeouts.

One of Sánchez’s bigger improvements this year has been his walk rate. Coming into tonight, he was walking 1.9 batters per nine innings pitched in the big leagues this year — much lower than his 3.8 walks per nine last season. He continued to fill the strike zone up against the Rays tonight and did not walk a hitter.

The lone mistake made by the lefty came in the fifth inning by way of a solo home run by Isaac Paredes:

After Sánchez, Yunior Marte, Jose Alvardo and Craig Kimbrel — who has been nearly untouchable since the start of June — all fired scoreless innings as the game went into extra innings.

Matt Strahm came into the game in the tenth and pitched two scoreless innings to secure the Phillies 12th straight road win.

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