PHILADELPHIA -- Pittsburgh tried a different look Tuesday night, but the result was the same: another left-hander, another quiet night at the plate.
The Pirates were shut out 8-0 by the Phillies, managing only three hits over seven innings against Cristopher Sánchez. For a club that has spent weeks searching for answers against southpaws, this one came with a fresh wrinkle. Manager Don Kelly started an all right-handed or switch-hitting lineup for the first time all season, even sitting Brandon Lowe and Ryan O’Hearn in an effort to shake loose the offense.
It didn’t work.
Sánchez was in command almost immediately, striking out five of the first six batters he faced and breezing through the first two innings without allowing a runner. Pittsburgh didn’t get its first hit until the fourth, when Nick Gonzales singled through the right side with two outs. By then, Sánchez had already made the Pirates look uncomfortable, and he finished with seven shutout innings.
“We've got to keep going and find something, because we've got to be better against lefties,” Kelly said postgame.
The lineup shuffle was aggressive, but not exactly reckless. Lowe entered the game with a .576 OPS against left-handers in 2026 despite his All-Star caliber season, and O’Hearn was hitting only .247 against southpaws. Kelly also mixed in Billy Cook in center field in place of Jake Mangum and started Endy Rodríguez at first base.
Still, Sánchez had too much. He struck out five and walked two, two more than he did on May 16 in Pittsburgh, but the Pirates never really forced him out of his rhythm.
Billy Cook and Esmerlyn Valdez each picked up hits, yet Pittsburgh’s approach never fully settled in. Cook said the Pirates chased too much, and Sánchez’s changeup was especially effective because it played off the sinker so well.
Konnor Griffin saw the same thing. He struck out twice, and said the changeup had the same arm action as the sinker. Griffin also felt the group came in with a solid plan but didn’t carry it out.
“I felt like we got out of our approach, trying to do too much,” Kelly said.
The numbers around the slump against lefties keep piling up. Pittsburgh hasn’t won a game against a left-handed starting pitcher since May 26, and the club now ranks 13th in the National League with a .677 OPS against them.
Sánchez has been especially tough on the Pirates. A little more than a month after going the distance against them and striking out a career-high 13, he now owns a 1.08 career ERA against Pittsburgh.
By the time Sánchez left, the Phillies had already built a five-run lead. They tacked on three more in the eighth, while Pittsburgh’s offense - which has been one of the best in baseball overall with a second-best .754 OPS - stayed stuck searching for a fix against the one look it still hasn’t solved.
“We got some real good hitters, and we just got to have one good game, and we'll get rolling,” Griffin said. “It's just, try not to overthink it too much and make it a big deal when there's a lefty on the mound.”
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