Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cristopher Sanchez bounced back on Sunday.
Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cristopher Sanchez had not quite looked like himself of late, but on Sunday, he bounced back.
Sanchez tossed 6.1 innings of two-run ball in a 7-2 win over the New York Mets, allowing six hits while registering six strikeouts. He also didn't walk any batters.
That followed a stretch in which Sanchez had surrendered 11 runs over his preceding two starts and 14 over his last three, and he was allowing far too much traffic.
Yes, he did still get tagged for six hits on Sunday, but that's just part of the Sanchez experience.
The left-hander owns a 1.22 WHIP on the season, so pitching clean innings if not really his thing. However, he has always been elite at getting out of jams, and while he hadn't been doing that recently, he made sure to do so against the Mets.
Considering the Phillies have been playing such poor baseball of late, having gone just 7-10 over their last 17 games, this Sanchez development is significant.
He'll have one more start on the regular season, and it's very important for him to put together another solid outing to find his groove heading into the playoffs.
That's especially with Jesus Luzardo's postseason status up in the air.
Sanchez has playoff experience, owning a lifetime 2.79 ERA and 1.086 WHIP over four postseason starts. Last year, he made a couple of starts and allowed just three runs across 12 innings.
We know the 29-year-old can pitch in October. But recently, it seemed pretty evident that he didn't have his best stuff.
And while Sanchez still wasn't overly dominant in Philadelphia's series finale versus New York, he, at the very least, managed the game and gave the Phillies breathing room.
Sanchez was just one of many concerns for Philly in recent weeks, as the team's offense has sputtered and its bullpen has completely fallen apart.
But the Dominican native appearing to turn things around in this start was absolutely significant, both for his morale and that of the ballclub.
The Phillies will now have series against the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays to close out the campaign, which should be a great litmus test to see where Philadelphia really is as a whole.
