Cristopher Sanchez struck out a career-high 13 in his second career shutout to guide the visiting Philadelphia Phillies to a 6-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday.
Bryce Harper hit a mammoth three-run homer for Philadelphia, which evened its record at 23-23 with its 14th win in 18 games since Don Mattingly took over for Rob Thomson as interim manager late last month. Mattingly missed Saturday’s game to attend his son’s college graduation, so bench coach Dusty Wathan guided the team in his place.
Trea Turner went 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI. Harper reached base three times, adding a pair of walks to his three-run blast.
Marcell Ozuna went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts for Pittsburgh, which managed only six hits and drew no walks against Sanchez (5-2). Pirates starter Bubba Chandler (1-5) allowed five runs (four earned) on three hits and four walks in three innings.
Philadelphia got started early against Chandler, beginning with Trea Turner’s leadoff single. Kyle Schwarber followed with a walk before Harper sent a 3-1 fastball over the center-field wall for his 11th homer of the season.
The visitors added two more runs in the second, thanks to a rally that began with a pair of walks. With two outs and two on, Schwarber’s double to right — combined with a throwing error by right fielder Jared Triolo — plated a pair of runs.
Meanwhile, Sanchez was cruising. He retired the first 11 batters he faced until Bryan Reynolds doubled with two outs in the fourth. However, Sanchez quickly bounced back to strike out Ozuna to end the inning.
In the fifth, Sanchez yielded a one-out single to Nick Gonzales before inducing a double-play grounder to end any potential threat.
The left-hander then set down the Pirates in order in the sixth, striking out O’Neil Cruz for the final out. He gave up a leadoff double to Konnor Griffin in the seventh, but slammed the door thereafter.
That set the stage for Philadelphia to tack on an insurance run in the eighth. Justin Crawford walked with two outs against Justin Lawrence before Turner followed with an RBI double to make it 6-0.
Sanchez struck out two more in the eighth before surpassing his career high in punch-outs with a strikeout of Ozuna in the ninth. His 108th and final pitch of the day resulted in Nick Yorke’s game-ending grounder.
