Cristopher Sanchez Shines Fanning 12, Phillies Earn A Hard Fought Series Split With A 6-4 Win Over Giants
Philadelphia Phillies' Cristopher Sánchez pitches during the second inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants, Thursday, April 17, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke
Going into this series, I don’t think anyone would have thought that today’s matinee with the Giants would be the battle for a series split. After last night’s offensive explosion, and the Giants outscoring the Phillies 25-14 in the first three games, this seemed like a best-case scenario for the suddenly scuffling Phillies.
It has not been because of great starting pitching from the Giants; it’s mostly been the lack of timely hits, and the Giants’ ability to hit with runners in scoring position, they were 13-32 with RISP, where the Phils were 5-32 coming into the game. Last night, a telling stat line was that the Phillies were 1-6 with runners in scoring position, and that one was a Bryce Harper home run. This has been a situation for the Phillies since Los Angeles left town, one game after another, with the same result: the Phillies putting runners on base and not being able to bring them home.
The other issue is the self-inflicted wounds that the Phillies have inflicted on themselves this whole series. Johan Rojas made an ill-advised throw which went into the Giants’ dugout, Kyle Schwarber with a terrible throw on a tag-up play, and Brandon Marsh slipping in the outfield. All three of which are directly related to the Giants’ runs. Would that have made the difference in the game? Not last night, but the aggregate of these mistakes will cost the team wins.
The other impactful pieces of the series have been Giants second baseman Tyler Fitzgerald, center fielder Jung Hoo Lee, and the Giants’ bullpen. Fitzgerald was hitting .236 coming in and has been torching the Phillies. Jung Hoo Lee has continued his strong East Coast trip, and the Giants’ bullpen. The Phillies were 3-36 going into today’s game against the Giants’ pen. They only got 2 earned runs off of the Giants’ pen, both coming on Harper’s home run on Tuesday night off of Hayden Birdsong.
The Phillies looked to Cristopher Sanchez to be the stopper, who has pitched very well at home, and has induced the fifth most grounders in the National League. With Lee and Flores out of the lineup, neutralizing Fitzgerald and Heliot Ramos is job 1 for Sanchez, and the first inning was a perfect example of this. After striking out Luis Matos and Willy Adames with his nasty changeup, Ramos hit a ball close to being a home run without hitting one, and ended up at second base for his effort. Matt Chapman singled him home and went to second on the throw. Sanchez was able to end the inning and the threat.
The Phillies were once again going into the bottom of the first down, albeit not as badly. Giants starter Jordan Hicks has not been sharp to start the season, but has some of the most electric stuff in all of baseball, so it would just be a question of which Jordan Hicks was on the mound today. They didn’t have to wait long to find out.
Bryson Stott singled past a diving Christian Koss, then Trea Turner went the other way for a single just off the glove of a diving Fitzgerald, and Harper walked, loading the bases for Schwarber, who singled to right, scoring Stott and Turner.
Nick Castellanos came up and, in a great sign, went the other way and plated Harper, with Schwarber going to third.
Schwarber scored on a Hicks wild pitch, and Alec Bohm smoked a line drive that looked like it was out of the park, but the swirling winds held it up and it bounced off the heel of Matos’ glove, and his momentum drove him hard into the wall, allowing Castellanos to score easily and put Bohm on third with a long triple, making it 5-1.
Sanchez shut the Giants down by changing speeds and keeping the Giants’ hitters off balance. Things settled into a bit of a rhythm with the exception of Hicks hitting the hand of Turner with a 101 MPH sinker, but thankfully it hit the hand he wears a protective guard on, and was ok, but he was picked off trying to steal second.
Sanchez cruised along until the 6th inning when Turner overthrew Harper, pulling him off the bag on and allowing Heliot Ramos to reach base, and Chapman made the first solid contact off of Sanchez since the first inning, and deposited the ball in the seats, making the score 5-3. After that, Sanchez punched out Casey Schmidt and Fitzgerald. Hicks settled in as well only allowing one base hit after the first inning where he got lit up.
When the Phils came out for the 7th inning, Castellanos did not come out for the inning, and it was later revealed he left the game with tightness in his hip flexor. We’ll keep an eye on this development.
There was quite a bit of intrigue in the bottom of the 8th, Giants skipper Bob Melvin sent out his only lefty out of the pen, Erik Miller, who had trouble throwing strikes, walking Harper and Schwarber, he threw a wild pitch, allowing them to move up. Edmundo Sosa drove them home with a sacrifice fly to Mike Yastrzemski, making the score 6-3. Tyler Rogers got J.T. Realmuto to strike out, ending the inning.
Jose Alvarado came in to slam the door shut, getting the first out on 2 pitches. The second batter, Fitzgerald, of course, it was he, hit a long home run to make the score 6-4. Alvarado got the next 2 outs to end the ballgame.
I see a pattern forming here: Giants win game 1 10-4, Phillies win game 2 6-4, Giants win game 3 11-4, Phils win today 6-4.
What Went Right?
Very importantly, the Phillies hit so much better with runners in scoring position. This is Phillies baseball, and even if the big boom came in the first inning, they still hit the ball better, and jumped on Hicks as he was predictable in the first inning.
Sanchez was on fire. He has the change-up working. He threw it 52% of the time, and still was getting swing throughs. Sanchez had a career-high 12 strikeouts in a game where the Phils needed a stop. He is emerging as an ace in this rotation, which is supposed to be a strength of the team.
What Can Be Done Better?
The defense was still a bit shaky, while there were no massive errors today, there were still a few mistakes, particularly with Turner at short, with a fielding mistake and a throwing error. This needs to be cleaned up, especially against top teams.
The health of Castellanos is a little bit of a concern, but let’s hope this was just a precaution.
This did feel like a playoff series, and it’s 2-2 going back to San Francisco.
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Steve Hamilton
Steve may have been born in California, but don’t let that fool you. After dating a local woman and clashing with her and her family over sports for decades, he has an affinity for Philly sports. Balancing love for Philly and Bay Area sports teams may seem impossible, we can all agree that the Cowboys are the true evil.
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