Cristopher Sánchez didn’t have strikeout stuff, but he had groundball-inducing stuff in the Phillies’ 4-1 win over the Cardinals in St. Louis.
Sánchez got the Cardinals to ground into four double plays on Saturday. Three were inning-enders. Two got the left-hander out of one-out jams.
St. Louis designated hitter Luken Baker grounded into a double play with the bases loaded to end the bottom of the third inning. Cardinals nine-hole hitter Thomas Saggese put a ball on the ground with one out and runners on first and second in the bottom of the fifth; it resulted in a 4-6-3 double play.
Sánchez’s afternoon was finished after 6 1/3 innings and 95 pitches. He couldn’t get out of the bottom of the seventh after walking Pedro Páges and surrendering a single to Victor Scott II.
Orion Kerkering replaced Sánchez in the seventh. Kerkering retired back-to-back hitters to get out of the frame.
Kerkering’s efforts maintained a 4-1 lead for the Phillies. The club’s four runs scored on a trio of two-out knocks.
Nick Castellanos, who finished the day 3-for-4 with a pair of two-baggers, doubled home two runs with two outs in the first inning. Bryson Stott doubled home Brandon Marsh from first base in the fifth. Marsh scored on Stott’s double after right fielder Jordan Walker seemingly misplayed the ball, letting it roll all the way to the wall instead of cutting it off.
Trea Turner plated another two-out run in the seventh. Alec Bohm started the inning with a single. The Phillies moved him over to third base on a Marsh sac bunt and Stott sac fly. Turner then lined a ball into left field, allowing Bohm to stroll home.
Sánchez wasn’t the only Phillies pitcher to get the Cardinals to ground into a double play. In the eighth, Jordan Romano induced an inning-ending double play. It’s the first time since 2021 and the eighth time since 1901 that Phillies pitchers have gotten five groundball double plays in the same game.
Perhaps more important than that, the bottom of the eighth was the second straight scoreless appearance by Romano. He tossed a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth on Thursday, too. His fastball that night touched 96.9 mph; it touched 96.1 on Saturday.
Romano had struggled last Sunday against the Dodgers with lower-than-usual velocity on his fastball. His last two outings have been proof of life, potentially lowering some of the concern Rob Thomson expressed after Romano’s outing against the Dodgers.
