Cristopher Sanchez has been one of the Phillies’ brightest arms all season, and the numbers back that up. Through 2026, the left-hander is sitting on a 17-6 record with a 2.93 ERA over 193.2 innings, plus 215 strikeouts. Even with a rough patch in his last few outings - he has allowed at least three earned runs in each of his last three starts and in four of his last five - he remains in the National League Cy Young conversation.
Still, there’s a stubborn problem Philadelphia has not been able to smooth out: Sanchez keeps getting hit early.
The first inning has been his biggest trouble spot by a wide margin. According to Baseball-Reference, he owns a 4.94 ERA in 31 first innings this season, and opponents have posted a .278/.305/.413 slash line against him in that frame. He has struck out 30 batters there, but the damage has piled up before he settles in.
That early-inning issue stands out even more when you look at how Sanchez performs after that. No other inning has an ERA above 4.00. His fourth inning is the next highest at 3.86 across 30.1 innings, while he has been far more effective everywhere else, posting ERAs of 2.03 in the second, 2.90 in the third, 2.10 in the fifth, 1.46 in the sixth, 3.09 in the seventh, 3.00 in the eighth and 0.00 in the ninth.
The pattern is clear: Sanchez gets better as the game moves along. His ERA through the first three innings is 3.29, it drops to 2.54 over the middle three, and it sits at 2.87 in the final three.
That leaves the Phillies with a straightforward challenge. They need him sharper from the first pitch, not after a sluggish opening inning or two. If he can stop handing opponents an early edge, his already strong season line would look even better.
Sanchez is not the only Phillies starter dealing with this issue. Andrew Painter has also struggled in the first inning, carrying a 9.00 ERA in that frame across 21 total innings.
With two regular-season starts left before the playoffs, this is a problem worth watching closely. If Sanchez can clean it up, it would give Philadelphia a better chance to keep him deeper into games and avoid leaning on a shaky bullpen too soon in October.
In Other News...
Justin Crawford Is Making The Phillies Reconsider A Bigger Role
Justin Crawfords rookie season did not start with much offensive traction, as he labored through his first 215 plate appearances with a .634 OPS and a 73 wRC+. But the Phillies have seen a different player since mid-June, one whose at-bats have been more consistent and whose overall production has climbed enough to keep him in the lineup on a regular basis.
The most encouraging part for Philadelphia is that the improvement has not been limited to one narrow slice of the schedule, either. Crawford has shown better results against left-handed pitchers, and the way he has steadied himself over the summer has forced a longer look at what his future role might be. There is still work to do, but he has made enough progress to keep the Phillies thinking bigger about how he fits. [Read more 🡒]
Phillies Still Have Two Problems To Solve Before The Final Push
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With eight games left, the Phillies are still locked in a three-way tie in the National League wild card race, and the next week is going to be shaped by whether they can clean up the two areas that hurt them here. The lineup needs to wake up, and the bullpen has to be sharper when the rotation is pieced together, because there is no room left for nights when both sides fall short at the same time. [Read more 🡒]
Phillies Suddenly Have An Eighth-Inning Problem They Can't Ignore
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Now Philadelphia is sorting through an eighth-inning role it cannot afford to let drift. Jonathan Bowlan has been handling that job for the moment, though he is working through a mild groin strain, and manager Don Mattingly has already flagged the issue of Kerkerings confidence. For a club that needs the back end of games to settle down, the next answer matters almost as much as the one it just sent away. [Read more 🡒]