Cristopher Sanchez And Ranger Suarez Continuing To Step Up And Filling The Void Of Zack Wheeler
Sep 4, 2025; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Ranger Suarez (55) throws against the Milwaukee Brewers in the first inning at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-Imagn Images
It’s been just over a month since the Philadelphia Phillies’ ace right-handed pitcher Zack Wheeler was placed on the Injured List with an upper extremity blood clot near his shoulder. After further evaluations, it was determined that Wheeler would undergo a thoracic outlet decompression surgery and miss the remainder of the 2025 season.
This was a huge blow for the Phillies, who were in the midst of a division and playoff race, and at the time, their offense was seen as a significant liability. They were coming off an abysmal stretch where they scored less than three runs in four of five games.
Things weren’t looking great. The starting pitching was the one thing that many people felt was the Phillies’ strongest asset, and in the blink of an eye, they were without their best arm for the rest of the season. Wheeler has been arguably the best pitcher in baseball since he joined Philadelphia back in 2020, and it was going to take some fantastic pitching to pick up his workload.
While the entire pitching staff has greatly improved over the past month, two names in particular have been sensational. Ranger Suarez and Cristopher Sanchez have both been some of the best pitchers in baseball since Wheeler hit the IL, leading the Phillies to a 20-8 record in that time.
Sanchez has been one of the best pitchers all season long and is expected to finish in the top three of the National League Cy Young voting. This season, Sanchez has posted a 2.66 ERA over 30 starts, with a 13-5 record. He has pitched in 189.1 innings this year and has recorded 198 strikeouts and a 1.104 WHIP
Over Sanchez’s last six starts, other than a blowup in Queens during a series where nothing went the Phillies’ way, the left-hander has been exceptional. He’s recorded 41 strikeouts, including a 12-strikeout game against the Seattle Mariners, and has allowed two earned runs or less in four starts.
If you take out his disaster start in New York against the Mets, where he allowed six earned runs, his ERA this month would be 2.43. One of his most impressive starts this season occurred just recently in the Dodgers series. Sanchez allowed three home runs in his start, four runs total, ending his streak of 55.2 innings straight of not allowing a home run.
If there’s one thing that Sanchez has excelled at this season, it’s that he has limited the number of home runs he has allowed. He’s only allowed 12 home runs in 2025, and three of them came in the first four innings of his most recent start. So down 4-0 with the Phillies getting no-hit, Sanchez locked in and tossed three shutout innings, keeping the Phillies with momentum after a six-run sixth inning. Sanchez kept them in that ballgame, and because of that, they picked up a huge series against the Dodgers.
While nobody can be Wheeler, Sanchez is doing his best to replicate the production that he brought to this team. His stellar performances this season give the Phillies a true No. 1 ace heading into October, a role that someone was going to have to fill with Wheeler out. The Phillies are already planning on shifting their rotation around so that Sanchez can start the first game of the NLCS, should the Phillies get a first-round bye.
Complimenting Sanchez this past month is the other left-handed stud for the Phillies in Ranger Suarez. Suarez has been flat-out dominant over the past month, and some could argue that he’s the Phillies’ MVP during the second half of the season.
Since July 26th, Suarez had posted a 3.10 ERA over 61 innings pitched, adding 63 strikeouts. While those numbers are good, he’s been even better since Wheeler hit the shelf. Since August 18, Suarez has struck out 44 batters over 36.2 innings, posting a 1.47 ERA. During that stretch, he’s pitched three 10-plus strikeout games, which is more than he’s had for his entire career prior.
The Phillies have won every single game that Suarez has appeared in over the last month, and are confident that Suarez is back to his top-tier Cy Young self just weeks before the start of the postseason. All season long, Suarez has been up and down as he dealt with a back injury that affected the second half of his 2024 season.
So, after losing arguably the best and most reliable starting pitcher in baseball just six weeks before the start of the postseason, the Phillies feel like they have the stud top pitcher that they need to get through the playoffs. Others have stepped up big, but when push comes to shove, Sanchez and Suarez will be the guys the Phillies will lean on the most when the calendar flips to October.
Matt Brown
Matt has been a Philadelphia sports fan all his life and spent four years at Penn State University majoring in Broadcast Journalism and minoring in Sports Studies. He previously covered Penn State’s field hockey, men’s and women’s basketball, and baseball teams while writing for a Penn State blog called Onward State. He has now covered the Phillies, Eagles, and Sixers for Philly Sports Reports since October 2024 and wants to pursue a career in Sports Journalism.
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