Phillies pitcher Cristopher Sánchez is approaching history, and Orel Hershiser knows the feeling well
Sánchez's streak is at 44⅔ innings, and he broke the Phillies' team record on Wednesday. Hershiser's mark is 59. Could the Phillies' 29-year-old actually threaten it?
Cristopher Sánchez faced 143 batters in May, and, to their considerable credit, a few got on base. But none — as in, zero — came around to score.
One person can relate to such dominance.
“He’s making me famous,” Orel Hershiser said.
Too late. Hershiser pitched 55 scoreless innings in September 1988. A month later, he led the Dodgers to a World Series triumph. And a few months after that, he was a guest of late-night TV king David Letterman. That’s fame.
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But if everyone has known Hershiser’s name for four decades, Sánchez is nudging it closer to the tips of tongues again. Because there’s company now in the club of pitchers who made at least four starts in a calendar month without giving up a run.
Thirty-eight years after Hershiser became the first, Sánchez delivered 39 scoreless innings for the Phillies in May, including seven Wednesday in San Diego to run his overall streak to 44⅔ innings and eclipse Grover Cleveland Alexander’s 115-year-old franchise mark. (Most record-keeping goes back to 1893, when the current mound distance was set.)
It’s the seventh-longest streak for any pitcher since at least 1920. Entering his next start, scheduled for Wednesday night at home against the San Diego Padres, Sánchez is one inning shy of overtaking Hall of Famer Carl Hubbell for the longest streak ever by a left-handed pitcher.
And beyond that, there’s Hershiser again and his 1988 run that reached 59 consecutive innings, a major league record that once seemed every bit as untouchable as Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak.
Could Sánchez actually threaten it?
“What Cristopher’s doing is absolutely amazing,” Hershiser said by phone. “I think being a left-handed starter and having his amazing stuff and consistency, the way he moves his body, how athletic he is, he’s got a very good chance to continue this on and look unstoppable and be unstoppable.”
They might actually cross paths this weekend. The Phillies are playing at Dodger Stadium, where Hershiser will be in the broadcast booth as a television analyst for SportsNet Los Angeles.
Hershiser, 67, and a 1976 graduate of Cherry Hill East High School, said he probably won’t pursue a meeting with Sánchez. But if Sánchez reaches out, he’s happy to chat.
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They would have a lot to talk about.
In 1988, Hershiser took an 18-8 record and 2.84 ERA to the mound on Sept. 5 in Atlanta. He threw a four-hit shutout to begin a month in which he tossed five complete game in a row. In his sixth start, in San Diego, he pitched 10 scoreless innings in a 16-inning loss.
“Being a ground-ball pitcher like I was, the streak was built on a lot of people fielding ground balls who happened to be there,” Hershiser said. “I always looked at, ‘What are the mechanics, and then what is the pitch to give me the best chance to get what I’m looking for?’ And as long as I was thinking about that, I think it calmed my nerves and got me focusing on the right stuff.
“It probably was the most consistent time in my life, with wisdom and health and a great team around me. And with something on the line, the probabilities and the execution all fell in line.”
Indeed, the Dodgers were trying to hold off the Astros and Reds to win the National League West title. They succeeded largely because of Hershiser and rookie righty Tim Belcher, who had a 1.06 ERA in his last six starts.
Hershiser matched Don Drysdale’s major league mark in his second-to-last inning and didn’t want to stay in the game for the 10th. But manager Tommy Lasorda sent him back to the mound, and he got the Padres’ Keith Moreland to fly to right field to strand a runner on third base.
“When people ask me what record in baseball is going to stand forever, this is the one I used to say,” Hershiser said postgame. “Now, I think somebody’s going to break it from me because I know I’m not any big deal.”
Hershiser’s numbers in that scoreless September: 5-0 record, 55 innings, 30 hits, nine walks, 34 strikeouts.
Sánchez’s May 2026: 4-0 record, 39 innings, 25 hits, three walks, 45 strikeouts.
It would be disingenuous, Hershiser said, to claim that he’s familiar with Sánchez‘s backstory. From the other coast, he didn’t follow the 29-year-old’s improbable transformation from a hard thrower without a feel for the strike zone into a control artist with the best changeup in baseball.
But based mostly on highlights, Hershiser said there’s plenty he admires.
“He’s got good stuff on the high end, he’s got good stuff on the low end of speeds,” Hershiser said, referring to Sánchez‘s sinker-changeup combination. “He has late movement, which I think is the No. 1 quality of a pitch.”
Unlike Sánchez, Hershiser didn’t overpower hitters with velocity. But he did change speeds with a curveball that kept hitters from sitting on his sinker. He pitched 18 seasons in the majors and finished with 204 wins and a 3.48 ERA.
Sánchez’s secret: He disguises the sinker and changeup by “tunneling,” or throwing them from the same initial trajectory for about 20 to 30 feet. Once they begin to appear different, the hitter has less time to react.
Oh, and his changeup is filthy, with opponents hitting .153 and slugging .176 against it.
Sánchez also is nearly unbeatable at home. In 40 home starts since the beginning of the 2024 season, he’s 17-4 with a 1.83 ERA in 260⅔ innings.
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And when he takes the mound Wednesday night in South Philly, Hershiser surely will be watching … and rooting for the streak to continue.
“My biggest concern is that people would think I would be jealous or I would be upset,” Hershiser said. “No, I enjoy watching baseball. I understand what he’s going through and how special it is and how it could change his life. I have no feelings toward, ‘Is he going to give up a run? Is he not going to give up a run? How far is he going to go?’
“But when I watch him pitch, you can see why it’s happening. I mean, he’s athletic; he’s deceptive. It’s fun to see him chase this, and it’s fun to watch him, watch his highlights. Because it does take you back.”
The Phillies are desperate for right-handed hitting. Mike Trout bats right-handed. But Trout also has full no-trade rights and has never asked the Angels to move him. Joe Maddon, Trout's manager for three years, joins "Phillies Extra" to answer the most important question: Why? And will this be the year that Trout asks out? Maddon also shares his thoughts on the Phillies' managerial change, Kyle Schwarber, Brandon Marsh, and more. Watch here.
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