PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Cristopher Sánchez is friends with fellow Dominican Republic native Marcell Ozuna, so it was only natural they trash talked each other before their most recent game.
The Pirates’ designated hitter told Sánchez he would take him deep.
Sánchez instead struck him out — four times, and the Phillies’ ace struck out 13 overall in the May 16 shutout victory.
“That wasn’t a very good idea to piss him off,” Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto said with a laugh.
Using an elite sinker-slider-changeup mix that has made him one of the best pitchers in baseball, Sánchez had his way with just about every batter in a sensational scoreless May.
Sánchez went 4-0 and struck out 45 — with only three walks — over 39 innings in May and broke a 115-year-old franchise record along the way. Sánchez has pitched 44 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings headed into Wednesday’s start against San Diego to top the mark of 41 innings set in 1911 by Grover Cleveland Alexander.
Up ahead, a shot at the major league record held by former Los Angeles Dodgers great Orel Hershiser, who threw 59 consecutive scoreless innings for the World Series champions from Aug. 30 to Sept. 28, 1988.
“I’m pulling for anybody to have a life-changing moment,” Hershiser said. “’88 and the 59 scoreless changed my life. The only time I’m not going to root for him is when he’s pitching against the Dodgers.”
Sánchez missed the Dodgers’ series during the Phillies 4-2 road trip, and they are now 21-10 under interim manager Don Mattingly.
He hasn’t missed much else, except maybe a lot of bats.
“It’s something special,” Sánchez said through an interpreter. “Something really important. I never imagined something like this. So, I’m really happy and proud of myself.”
Sánchez has thrown at least seven shutout innings in five straight starts — he would need to reach that minimum in two more starts, plus one inning to top Hershiser — and only six other pitchers are ahead of him on the consecutive shutout innings list dating back to the start of the Live Ball Era in 1920.
Arizona pitcher Zac Gallen is the only other active pitcher who understands what Sánchez is feeling on the mound over a lengthy scoreless streak. Gallen — just passed by Sánchez — had six straight scoreless starts of six-plus innings and finished at 44 1/3 innings overall in 2022.
“When you’re on a streak like that, it’s fun,” Gallen said. “It’s kind of like walking around, I wouldn’t say on eggshells of, ‘Oh man, you never know when this thing’s going to end.’ But it’s fun when you’re out there and you’re in flow state and the zeros start to stack up. So, it’s awesome for him. I hope he can take down the record.”
Sánchez is 6-2 with an MLB-low 1.47 ERA overall headed into Wednesday’s start against a Padres team he just beat last week with seven brilliant innings. Should Sánchez start the game with three scoreless innings, he would pass Sal Maglie, Carl Hubbell, Zack Greinke, and Bob Gibson on the scoreless streak list.
Only Don Drysdale and Hershiser would be left.
“What I do watch, he’s very, very special,” Hershiser said. “His changeup, his athleticism, his ability to change speeds to both sides of the plate. I just think he’s a real special pitcher. You can’t do what he’s doing without repeating your mechanics and having some deception and making a lot of good pitches. He’s putting it all together.”
Each of Sánchez’s last 28.2 innings at Citizens Bank Park have been scoreless and he has the third-longest scoreless streak in ballpark history, trailing only Roy Halladay in 2010 (33 innings) and Cliff Lee in 2011 (29).
The 29-year-old Sánchez has inched toward greatness each of the last two seasons.
He was the NL Cy Young Award runner-up in 2025 when he went 13-5 with a 2.50 ERA and struck out 212 in 202 innings. Sánchez was rewarded in March with a guaranteed $104 million over a six-year contract through the 2032 season in a deal that contains $20 million in deferred money payable from 2035-44.
The Phillies put a lot of financial faith in Sánchez, and the early returns have been significant — he made his first opening day start and could lead to the lanky lefty earning an All Star start in July on his home mound.
Sánchez signed with the Tampa Bay Rays as an international free agent in 2013 and was traded to the Phillies six years later for infielder Curtis Mead in a few-cared winter transaction. Mead never caught on as an everyday player and is batting .242 in 45 games this season with the Washington Nationals.
Sánchez — throwing a changeup that averages 86.5 mph and holding hitters to a .153 average — and Zack Wheeler have formed a formidable 1-2 punch in the rotation and helped the Phillies play their way out of a 9-19 start to get back into wild card contention.
Sánchez has pitched largely to weak contact, and the scoreless streak has never been in any serious jeopardy since he last allowed two runs in the first inning of a 3-2 Phillies win over the Giants on April 30.
The defensive highlight of his run came in his last start when centerfielder Justin Crawford raced after Manny Machado’s deep drive and crashed into the wall to make the catch.
Sánchez stood on the mound and applauded the effort.
And if Sánchez gets to 60 scoreless, so too, will Hershiser.
“If Cristopher would break it, that would be an honor to be mentioned and I would treat him the same (respectful) way that Don Drysdale treated me,” he said.
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AP Sports Writers Beth Harris in Los Angeles and Andrew Destin in Seattle contributed to this story.
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