Fueled by impressive outing from Cristopher Sánchez, Phillies even series against Cardinals

Scott Lauber, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Apr 12, 2025

Published in Baseball

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ST. LOUIS — Three weeks into the season, the Phillies have tried out three leadoff hitters and five in the cleanup spot. They’ve had big innings and gotten shut out. Most days, the luckless third baseman looks on the brink of disaster.

Overall, the offense has been ... average.

But it’s been just three weeks in mostly frigid weather. There’s a lot of time to get hot, and it’s a safe bet the big-money bats will, regardless of whatever batting order manager Rob Thomson ultimately lands on.

Besides, as long as the Phillies keep getting superb starting pitching, they can wait for the offense to heat up.

Indeed, for all the marquee names in the lineup, the Phillies were always bound to follow the lead of their rotation. And Cristopher Sánchez took his turn Saturday en route to a 4-1 victory over the Cardinals in the shadow of the Gateway Arch.

Sánchez threw his heavy sinker and bat-slowing change-up into the seventh inning and became the first Phillies pitcher to get four double plays in a game since Zack Wheeler on July 25, 2020.

Guess who’s scheduled to start the series finale Sunday?

Through 14 games, the Phillies’ starters — Wheeler, Jesús Luzardo, Aaron Nola, Sánchez, and Taijuan Walker — have combined to allow 26 earned runs in 80 2/3 innings for a 2.90 ERA.

Is it any wonder why the Phillies are off to a 9-5 start?

Sánchez rolled double plays in the first, second, third and fifth innings, enabling him to keep the Cardinals off the board until the seventh. In all, Phillies pitchers got five ground-ball double plays, the first time that happened in a game since June 1, 2021.

José Alvarado pitched a spotless ninth inning to record his third save and square the best-of-three series. The Phillies haven’t lost a series in St. Louis since 2017. They are 26-15 at Busch Stadium since 2018.

After Thomson rearranged the batting order Friday in an attempt to better protect Bryce Harper with Kyle Schwarber, the Phillies scattered three hits and got shut out for the first time since last August.

But try, try again.

As expected, Thomson stuck with the Harper-Schwarber tandem in the Nos. 3-4 spots. They reached base for a second consecutive game with two out in the first inning. This time, though, the Phillies cashed in.

Harper lined a full-count pitch up the middle for a single before Schwarber fouled off three two-strike pitches and a curveball in the dirt from Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas en route to working a nine-pitch walk.

Nick Castellanos, who lined out hard in a similar situation Friday night, crushed a two-run double to center field off the glove of diving Victor Scott II, and the Phillies jumped to an early lead.

The Phillies tacked on runs with two-out hits in the fifth and seventh innings. Bryson Stott, back in the leadoff spot, banged a double to right field in the fifth before Trea Turner made it 4-1 with a single to left in the seventh.