PHILADELPHIA — With starting pitcher Taijuan Walker seemingly running low on energy over his last few starts, essentially following the charted path of his last couple of seasons, Cristopher Sanchez’s place at the bottom of the Phillies’ rotation looms ever more important.
Sanchez was the promotee brought up after Bailey Falter, in place as the fifth starter due to Andrew Painter’s season-ending injury … faltered. Sanchez did not.
Over 15 starts he’s pitched well enough to not only stick, but compete for a postseason rotation spot. Sanchez went into the game Friday night against the Miami Marlins with a 2-3 record and respectable 3.43 ERA this season, with a 1.05 WHIP.
What he hasn’t done, for various reasons, is go long in games or prove to manager Rob Thomson that he could start stretching him out for longer appearances.
Over those 15 starts, Sanchez had pitched only 76 innings, essentially an average of five per start. But with Suarez back and Walker perhaps needing a recharge, Sanchez’s import to the rotation might need a longer look.
“It all depends on how he’s pitching,” Thomson said Friday. We always have the ability to send people out and bring people in. … But if he’s pitching well, we’ll stay with him. We could (push him), but without putting a win in jeopardy.”
Sanchez worked into immediate trouble in the first inning Friday night, with two Marlins in scoring position after only one out. But a diving snag by second baseman Bryson Stott of a would-be two-run single got him out of the inning unscathed. From there he cruised … until Thomson sunk his effort.
Sanchez went five innings, allowing no runs and four hits with a walk against four strikeouts. And he threw 82 pitches along the way. But Thomson chose to end Sanchez’s night right there, even though the Phillies have a packed schedule with a four games in three days visit from the Braves right after this series.
To make matters worse, reliever Seranthony Dominguez allowed a game-tying, two-run homer to Miami pinch-hitter Jesus Sanchez in the top of the sixth inning.
Either way, Sanchez is hopeful he helped his case for a potential postseason starting role. He seemed to be on track for that during August, going six full innings in his previous three starts against Minnesota, Washington and St. Louis. Then came his last start, Aug. 30 against the Angels, Sanchez going only 4.2 innings and allowing five runs (three earned) on seven hits.
“I thought he really had trouble finding his changeup (then),” Thomson said. “Usually, early in the game he doesn’t have his changeup. It takes him, probably, once through the order and then he finally gets it. I didn’t think he got it (last start) … he threw a couple of good ones, but not the amount he normally throws.
“It’s his pitch. And when he has it, he’s really effective.”
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Trea Turner not only returned from paternity leave Friday night, he marked the occasion with a home run in his first at-bat. It was No. 23 of what not long ago was a disappointing season for the Phillies’ marquee offseason acquisition. And 13 of those dingers have come since the beginning of August.
With Turner rejoining, the Phillies optioned veteran Weston Wilson back to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, where’s he’s enjoyed an impactful season. Wilson, a 2016 17th-round draft pick of the Brewers, turns 29 on Monday, an age where minor league players might be hearing the bells of time tolling loudly on their careers.
That said, he’s opened some eyes in the Phillies organization this year. In 112 games with the IronPigs before his callup, Wilson was slashing .259/.364/.531 with an OPS of .895. He had 29 home runs and 28 stolen bases. And he’s proven to be a multi-positional player.
Over five games of spot duty with the Phillies, Wilson had two hits and five walks and scored three runs.
“What we told (the Lehigh Valley staff) was to just keep moving him around (in) all the spots,” Thomson said. “Make sure he’s comfortable and available whenever we need him, because he’s a guy that we trust and we know he can do a lot of different things. He can hit, he’s got power, he can run, steal a base … this guy’s got a chance for a 30-30 season in Triple-A. I don’t know how often that happens but it can’t be often.”
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Including an early afternoon makeup game Monday for a day-night doubleheader, the Phillies will host the front-running, big-bad-Braves for four games Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, then will go to Atlanta the following week for three more.
No one has to tell Thomson that’s quite a final-month challenge on the schedule.
“I do like it, because we can’t relax,” he said. “We’ve got to keep playing, we’ve got to keep going; winning games, winning series. Some teams, if they had a really easy schedule, would just kind of look at it and go, ‘Ah, we’ve got this thing.’ I don’t want anybody (here) to feel that way, and they don’t.”
Source: Berkshire mont