The Phillies jumped on the Giants in the first inning Thursday and let Cristopher Sanchez do much of the rest.
With a 6-4 win at Citizens Bank Park, the Phillies salvaged a four-game series split against San Francisco and improved to 11-8 overall. They still haven’t lost a series at home since being swept by the Yankees in late July of last season.
The Phillies tallied five runs in the first. Sanchez set a new career high with 12 strikeouts over seven innings and only walked one. He allowed four hits and three runs (two earned).
Sanchez conceded a first-inning run, but he was soon working with a healthy lead. The first five Phillies reached base. Bryson Stott, Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos all singled. Bryce Harper walked.
The Phils smoked Jordan Hicks’ high-90s heaters and extended their lead to 5-1 when Alec Bohm lined a two-out triple that Luis Matos couldn’t snag on the center field warning track.
Both offenses then quieted down. Hicks righted the ship and Sanchez got rolling. He struck out eight Giants over the first four innings.
Sanchez’s changeup was extraordinarily deceptive and well-located, fading out of the zone and flummoxing San Francisco’s lineup.
“It was as good as you’re going to get, I think … as good as I’ve seen,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “A lot of swing and miss. It was just diving into the ground.”
Out of 29 swings against Sanchez’s changeup, 22 were whiffs. He leaned on his elite pitch without growing too predictable, throwing changeups on a little over half of his pitches (50 of 97).
“It was kind of tough to see out there,” J.T. Realmuto said. “Once the shadows roll in, it makes it that much harder to be able to recognize spin and off speed. That’s why we started using it a little more often.”
The Giants trimmed their deficit in the sixth inning. Turner made his second error of the day with a wayward throw to first and Matt Chapman ripped a hanging Sanchez slider into the left field seats.
Sanchez plunked Mike Yastrzemski to lead off the seventh, but he navigated around it by racking up two more strikeouts and inducing a groundout to Stott.
“My key for today was go as long as I could,” Sanchez said through a Phillies interpreter. “Our bullpen’s a little tired, so I wanted to contribute on that.”
The Phillies added an insurance run in the eighth inning — Edmundo Sosa’s sac fly scored Harper from third — and asked Orion Kerkering and Jose Alvarado to notch the final six outs.
Kerkering tossed a 1-2-3 eighth. Alvarado gave up a solo homer to Tyler Fitzgerald but ultimately polished off the victory.
Castellanos pulled, Marsh sidelined
Castellanos exited Thursday’s game after six innings because of left hip flexor tightness and Sosa entered. According to Thomson, Castellanos “should be good to go tomorrow.”
Brandon Marsh sat after hurting his right knee during the Phillies’ loss Wednesday.
“The play that he fell down on where the ball skipped on him, he kind of turned his knee a little bit … just twisted it,” Thomson told reporters pregame. “He’s a little sore, so we’re going to keep him out today.”
Thomson said postgame that Marsh has “just kind of a strain behind the knee,” is considered “day-to-day,” and is not expected to require an IL stint.
Blueprint for Suarez
After Ranger Suarez’s rehab start Wednesday at Single A Clearwater, Thomson laid out the lefty’s next steps.
“He’ll be here tomorrow,” Thomson told reporters. “He’ll throw a bullpen with us. We’ll get our trainers to get their hands on him. And then it’s probably going to be Tuesday again in (Triple A Lehigh Valley).”
Suarez threw 54 pitches Wednesday and is still ramping up.
“In theory, next time out you go to 70, 75,” Thomson said. “Then 90, 95. Then we’ll see.”
On deck
Zack Wheeler (1.1, 4.07 ERA) will face Sandy Alcantara (2-0, 4.70 ERA) on Friday night to kick off the Phillies’ three-game series vs. the Marlins.
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