Cristopher Sánchez delivered 39 scoreless innings for the Phillies in May, and overall, he hasn’t allowed a run in 44⅔ innings. Its the longest streak in franchise history and seventh-longest streak for any pitcher since at least 1920.
In his next start, on Wednesday night at home against the Padres, Sánchez is one inning shy of overtaking Hall of Famer Carl Hubbell for the longest streak by a left-handed pitcher.
One person can relate to such dominance — Orel Hershiser pitched 59 consecutive scoreless innings in 1988 with the Dodgers, which is the all-time major league record and once seemed untouchable.
Maybe Sánchez could challenge it.
Speaking of the Dodgers, the Phillies spent the weekend in Los Angeles for a three-game series at Dodger Stadium. Here’s what you missed:
Brandon Marsh reunited with Shohei Ohtani — the pair were teammates for less than two seasons with the Angels, and despite their short stint, they became friends.
The Phillies evened the series with the Dodgers on Saturday, thanks to Edmundo Sosa’s late two-run homer.
However, the Phillies dropped the series finale Sunday, 9-1, and produced just five hits.
🚨 In other news, Aidan Miller, the Phillies’ top prospect, is no longer doing baseball activities due to recurring lower back soreness, but could still play in the minor leagues this season.
— Isabella DiAmore, @phillysport, sports.daily@inquirer.com.
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What we’re...
🏀 Learning: Everything you need to know about the Sixers’ new president, including his time in Cleveland’s organization and being a standout at West Virginia.
📖 Reading: With the World Cup about two weeks away, The Inquirer’s Kerith Gabriel says FIFA has alienated its mission of making the game “For the World.”
👀 Watching: Guard Jamison Lynam, a junior-to-be and the grandson of longtime coach Jim Lynam, is making the jump from Division III Arcadia to La Salle.
🤔 Wondering: What does the new Mitchell & Ness flagship store in Center City look like? The massive sports clothing store held its grand opening on Saturday.
T.J. Highley, the chair of La Salle’s math and computer science department, and two of his best students wanted to figure out how to deter NBA teams from tanking. They turned their attention, and their graphing calculators, to the NBA lottery.
Meanwhile, the NBA’s board of governors voted to implement an anti-tanking policy of its own, one that expanded the number of lottery teams from 14 to 16 and lowered the odds that the worst teams would get the highest draft picks.
So … did the NBA get it right? These La Salle researchers might have a better fix.
After advancing to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Flyers will make their first selection at No. 21 in the first round of the NHL draft.
That leaves 20 selections, and, at a minimum, 90 minutes of chaos leading up to general manager Danny Brière and the Flyers’ pick.
So let’s dive into The Inquirer’s two-round mock draft, where we have the Flyers addressing their needs with two American-born draft prospects.
The U.S. men’s soccer team started its countdown to the World Cup with a 3-2 win over African power Senegal on Sunday in Charlotte, N.C., in its first warmup game. Christian Pulisic had a goal and an assist, and Folarin Balogun scored the game-winner.
Alejandro Zendejas was the last U.S. sub. Many people wondered if Zendejas was out of the World Cup picture. When the call finally came, there were a lot of emotions for Zendejas and his family in San Antonio, Texas.
Zendejas likely won’t be a starter, but he could be an ideal sub off the bench.
Sports snapshot
Unique path: Penn Charter’s Aditi Foster went from watching the 2019 national title as a seventh grader to scoring the game-winning goal for Northwestern last weekend.
Teeing up opportunity: Camden Prep High School started the first-ever varsity golf program in the city. Here’s what it means to the students.
Season-ending loss: Rowan’s baseball program made its second straight Division III championship appearance this season, but fell short of reaching the final best-of-three series.
The first thing everyone should know about Mike Gansey is that he was a hell of a college basketball player. As for his track record as an executive, he doesn’t really have one.
At least, not one that compares to the guy he’ll be replacing as the Sixers’ president of basketball operation. The tough part about evaluating the Gansey hire is that we don’t know exactly what he is being hired to do, writes columnist David Murphy.
We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from David Murphy, Mike Sielski, Scott Lauber, Lochlahn March, Jonathan Tannenwald, Jackie Spiegel, Ariel Simpson, Kerith Gabriel, Mia Messina, Conor Smith, Owen Hewitt, and Brett Friedlander.
By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.
Thanks for getting your Monday started with me, let’s have a great week. Kerith will bring you tomorrow’s newsletter. — Bella