Cristopher Sánchez falters and offense struggles against another lefty as Phillies drop series finale to Brewers
The Phillies failed to take Sunday's game — and the series — from the Brewers despite having their ace on the mound.
MILWAUKEE — In the midst of it all, as Bernie Brewer barreled down his slide and another sold-out crowd roared, Cristopher Sánchez bowed his head.
It turns out the Phillies’ ace is fallible after all.
Who knew?
One out from escaping the fourth inning here Sunday, two days after Brewers rival Jacob Misiorowski pitched the best game in baseball this season, Sánchez gave up a back-breaking three-run homer to .113-hitting Blake Perkins on a slider, his third-best pitch.
That’s one way to beat Sánchez. Here’s another: Start a left-hander against the Phillies, held to three hits by Kyle Harrison and four overall in a rubber-game 4-0 loss to the powerhouse Brewers.
“Everything was off today, especially my energy,” Sánchez said through a team interpreter. “I’d say it wasn’t as it usually is. But not to use it as an excuse.”
Hmm. That’s odd. It was one of those measuring-stick series — for the Phillies against a National League heavyweight, and for Sánchez in the middle rounds of what’s shaping up as a Cy Young Award fight with Misiorowski, who submitted a one-hit, 15-strikeout shutout Friday night.
Why, then, the low energy?
“I didn’t have the best sleep last night,” Sánchez said. “I think it’s only that. But no excuses again.”
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OK, so the Cy Young race won’t be decided in June. But after permitting a total of five runs and one homer in 59⅔ innings over his previous eight starts, Sánchez gave up four runs and two homers against the Brewers, hiking his ERA from 1.54 to 1.82.
(Misiorowski leads the majors with a 1.34 mark.)
“A little bit uncharacteristic,” interim manager Don Mattingly said. “Just velo was down a touch, and with that, it gives [the hitter] a little more time up there. Other than that, you take the homer away, just a breaking ball there, even when it doesn’t look like he has his best stuff, he’s still hanging in there.”
Oh, about that breaking pitch. Sánchez has baseball’s best changeup and a bowling-ball sinker. But Rafael Marchán called for a slider in a 1-0 count to Perkins. Marchán, who left the game in the eighth inning and was going through concussion protocol, was catching Sánchez for only the third time this season.
“I felt good with calling that pitch at that moment,” Sánchez said. “It just stayed in the middle. I hung it. But at the moment that we called it, I felt good with it.”
Said Mattingly: “I never question what pitch he’s throwing or picking. They’re all good. It’s just a ball that he kind of left up. He tried almost like a get-me-over-breaking-ball, and the guy hit it.”
The Phillies didn’t do much hitting against the Brewers’ top starts. Misiorowski and Harrison bookended the series by allowing a total of four hits in 15 scoreless innings.
Harrison became the latest left-handed pitcher to mute the Phillies’ bats. Three of their seven shutouts this season have come against left-handed starters.
» READ MORE: What if the Phillies’ most impactful addition was a resurgent Trea Turner? He’s working to make it happen.
Trea Turner, in particular, continued to struggle. The star shortstop went 1-for-13 with six strikeouts in the series — 3-for-26 with 10 strikeouts overall on the road trip.
For the season, he’s batting .219 with a .599 OPS.
“Definitely frustrated,” Turner said. “It feels like I’m just missing every pitch I could possibly miss no matter what I try, approach-wise, physically, mentally. It feels like it’s just not getting the job done.
“I feel like the last two or three weeks I’ve been getting pitched really well, and then this series, finally I felt like I got some pitches to hit in the middle of the zone and just fouled them all off. So, that’s what I’m most frustrated with.”
Would it help if the Phillies dropped Turner from the No. 2 spot in the order to relieve some pressure?
“I haven’t really thought about moving him at all,” Mattingly said. “I don’t really know what the answer to moving him down is. Somebody’s going to have to hit there. Not sure who that would be right now.”
Onward, then. The Phillies are 38-33, 29-14 under Mattingly, but only 3-9 against the Brewers, Dodgers, and Braves, the cream of the NL crop.
As measuring sticks go, the Phillies surely must have learned something from three days in Milwaukee?
“I don’t think we played our best,” Turner said. “To come out with a win, I think, is kind of a positive outlook at it. I think we all think we could’ve played a lot better in all three games, but that’s what happens if you don’t show up against these good teams. They beat you.”
