Phillies bats silent behind Cristopher Sánchez, as Braves clinch NL East title with 4-1 win

No franchise likes to watch another team celebrate on its own field. To have to set up plastic sheets to protect lockers in the visiting clubhouse for a rowdy celebration. To make sure the champagne being popped doesn’t seep into the carpet. It’s a lot of work with no reward. But that is what the Phillies, and their staff, had to do on Wednesday night, after a 4-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves.

The Braves clinched the National League East title for the sixth straight season. The Phillies lost three games of their four-game set this week, and for the most part, they were able to go toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in baseball. But they weren’t able to finish the job. And that is what they’ll have to do over the next 16 games.

The Phillies’ problem, lately, is that different pieces haven’t been in sync. On Monday afternoon, in the first game of their doubleheader, their offense rallied late, but their bullpen faltered. On Tuesday night, their bullpen put them in a position to win, but the bottom of the lineup didn’t produce. But Wednesday night might have been the worst of all, given how Cristopher Sánchez pitched.

He was not handed an easy assignment. The Braves lead the sport in runs, home runs, batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. There is no respite in their lineup. They are relentless.

Despite that, Sánchez showed some poise. The 26-year-old lefty made sure the Braves didn’t gain too much momentum. He allowed a two-run home run to Austin Riley in the first inning and retired the next six batters he faced. He allowed a sacrifice fly to Riley in the third, and an RBI double to Kevin Pillar in the fourth, and didn’t allow any runs after that.

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Sánchez seemed to gain strength as the outing went on. He struck out the side in the sixth inning. He struck out his first two batters in the seventh, allowed a single, a walk, and then induced a flyout, thanks to a sliding catch in foul territory by second baseman Bryson Stott.

He came back out for the eighth for the first time in his young career as a starter. He recorded one out, inducing a groundout from Matt Olson. Reliever Yunior Marte came in after that.

It wasn’t a perfect outing, but he kept the Phillies in the game. Sánchez finished his night at 7⅓ innings pitched, allowing eight hits and four earned runs, with one walk and 10 strikeouts. The strikeouts were a career-high, which is even more impressive when you consider that the Braves have the fourth-lowest strikeout rate in baseball (20.6%). Most of those strikeouts came from his changeup, which he said was the best it has been all season.

“If it’s not the best changeup in baseball, it is one of the very best,” pitching coach Caleb Cotham said recently. “It appears in the zone for a really long time, so he gets a lot of chase on it. But he’s also throwing it for a strike when he needs to. So, he’s been able to pitch behind in the count with his slider and changeup. And that’s not something he was always able to do in the past.

“Right now, it feels like he can throw any pitch in any count in the strike zone.”

Before the game, manager Rob Thomson said that Sánchez would have to pitch himself into a postseason start, and he has steadily been doing that. He entered Wednesday’s game with a 3.26 ERA through 15 starts this season. He’s dropped his walk rate from 9.6% in 2022 to 4.1% in 2023, and increased his strikeout rate from 19.8% last season to 22.8% this campaign.

But aside from the numbers, Sánchez looks like he belongs. There were times last season when a two-run homer would cause everything to spiral. Those days seem to be over. He is throwing his pitches with more conviction.

“I think the biggest difference, for me, is the confidence,” Sánchez said recently in Spanish. “When I’m on the mound, I think I am the best, it doesn’t matter who I’m facing. It can be a veteran, or it can be a rookie. I will always feel like I’m the best out there.

“I didn’t have that same mentality last year. If things didn’t go well, that would be it. Now, I can turn the page and keep competing.”

“He’s really, really competing,” added Cotham. “He’s always in the fight. That’s something we’ve talked about. Just stay in the fight. He is relentless right now.”

The way Sánchez was used on Wednesday seems to indicate that the Phillies are going to continue to use him as as starter. In his previous start last Friday, he pitched five shutout innings against the Marlins but was pulled after only 82 pitches. On Wednesday, Thomson let him reach 96. There have been some concerns about his workload, because he’s already pitched double the amount of big league innings he did in 2022 (he’s at 87⅓ now). But Sánchez hasn’t shown any signs of fatigue thus far.

Thomson said his outing was “fantastic.” He indicated that Sánchez will make a start next week.

“I would think [he would],” Thomson said. “If we don’t use a spot starter or an opener or whatever you want to call it. Right now he’s been on right-handers too, so.”

Despite the starter’s best efforts, the Phillies’ lineup did not give him much run support. They got off to a good start against Braves starter Spencer Strider, working him to 36 pitches in the first inning, and putting a run on the board with an RBI single by Stott. But Brandon Marsh struck out to end the inning, and Strider eased in, pitching seven innings, allowing four hits and one earned run, while walking two and striking out nine.

“I thought we had good at-bats in the first inning,” Thomson said. “We got that pitch count up. And that’s what you say you’ve got to do against a good pitcher. You’ve got to get him early. We let that inning get away and he settled in, and did a great job.”

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The Phillies didn’t do any damage against the Braves’ bullpen, either. Former Phillie Brad Hand pitched a hitless inning in the eighth, striking out two, and Kirby Yates pitched the bottom of the ninth, retiring Alec Bohm, Stott, and Marsh.

The Phillies went 1-for-3 with runners in scoring position. Because the Cubs lost to the Rockies earlier in the day, the Phillies retained their 1½-game lead over Chicago for first place in the National League wild card race. But they’ve lost five of their last seven games as they prepare for a six-game road trip to St. Louis and Atlanta.

“It what it is,” said designated hitter Kyle Schwarber. “It’s not like it’s been uncompetitive losses, right? So, we’ve been in it every single game. That’s the positive thing to look out of it. We’re all going to regroup. We’ve got the off day tomorrow, get a little breather, refresh and be ready for a big road series.”