Being Cristopher Sánchez: Phillies’ lefty savors historic month on the mound

They finally found a weakness in Cristopher Sánchez, a few minutes after the Philadelphia Phillies completed a sweep of the Padres in San Diego.

The Phillies wanted a toast to history. They demanded a speech from Sánchez inside the visiting clubhouse. Not everyone could see him, the pitcher with a 44 2/3-inning scoreless streak, but they could hear what he was saying through interpreter Diego D’Aniello.

Sánchez thanked his teammates for their support -- in the good and bad times. He thanked God. It was all so special, he said, and that was it. They had a bus to ride up the Pacific Coast to play the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was a brief speech.

“I didn’t do a good job,” Sánchez said later.

His teammates disagreed. They are all grateful to witness this, perhaps the second-greatest month for a pitcher in modern MLB history. Sánchez threw 39 innings in May. He struck out 45 batters. He walked three. He did not allow a run.

It just keeps going. It almost feels like it cannot end.

“A little bit,” the Phillies’ interim manager, Don Mattingly, said last week after a 3-0 win. “You just don’t expect him to give up any runs.”

That is an audacious thing to say about a pitcher, even one of the best in the sport, because that is not how this works. Manny Machado should have hit a ball over the wall in left field, but it died at the warning track in the fourth inning. He should have hit at least a double in the sixth inning, but rookie center fielder Justin Crawford ran and ran until the ball plopped into his glove and he crashed into the padded fence. A bloop should have fallen here or there. Something should have conspired against Sánchez.

Nothing. Sánchez has the longest scoreless streak in Phillies history -- since at least 1893, when the current mound distance was set -- and probably before that. He has the seventh-longest such streak in MLB since 1920. He has the second-longest one by a left-hander.

So he had to give a speech.

“This is a game; it’s not only about me or about what I do on the mound,” Sánchez said. “It’s about our group. And I think it’s really something special and beautiful to feel the support of the team as a whole.”

What is it like to be Cristopher Sánchez right now?

“Pretty good,” shortstop Trea Turner said, “when they know what’s coming and still can’t hit you.”

“I would imagine you feel like Superman,” said a fellow lefty, Jesús Luzardo. “Just untouchable. And it’s not just given to him. He obviously works extremely hard. Like, he’s earned that. But I would just imagine it feels just like an all-time high. When he’s out there on the mound, he’s flowing, and I feel like there’s probably not many thoughts.”

Machado said, “He’s one of the best pitchers in the league right now. He has been for the past couple years.”

In the corner of the room, Kyle Schwarber shook his head. He was there when Sánchez made his major league debut five years ago. It was June 6, 2021, and Schwarber was the left fielder for the Washington Nationals. Turner was the shortstop. Sánchez whiffed Turner for his first big league strikeout. Schwarber never faced him; he just remembered staring from the opposing dugout.

“Big lanky kid who threw hard,” Schwarber said. “Then, all of a sudden, he’s turned himself into a monster.”

By now, Sánchez’s transformation is known across the sport. His teammates and coaches are impressed by that, but there is something more. He keeps going. He has discovered different ways to improve, to be a portrait of consistent pitching.

This is the greatest measure: Sánchez was not great in his last start in seven scoreless innings. Asked if he had his best stuff, he laughed. “No,” he said. “I don’t think so. No.” But that is one hallmark of greatness: Find a way to compete and compete well without optimal conditions.

Once he navigated the first four innings, he toppled a franchise record that had stood for 115 years. That was Hall of Fame right-hander Grover Cleveland Alexander’s mark, 41 innings in 1911. Sánchez is one inning from eclipsing another Hall of Famer, Carl Hubbell, for the longest scoreless streak for a left-handed pitcher since at least 1920 and maybe ever. (These records are a bit muddled.)

It has felt impossible for anyone to encroach on Orel Hershiser’s 59-inning scoreless streak from 1988. The closest anyone has come in the past 30 years was Zack Greinke, who had a 45 2/3-inning streak in 2015.

Sánchez is right there. He joined Hershiser as the only starting pitcher with an entire scoreless month (minimum four starts). Hershiser’s was better; he pitched 55 innings with five shutouts and another 10-inning scoreless outing.

There were great months by other pitchers, but all of them had at least one blemish. Inside the Phillies’ clubhouse, there has been a greater sense of responsibility when Sánchez is on the mound. But they somehow lost one of his starts this month, a 1-0 defeat to the Cleveland Guardians, and they were not crisp in the field to begin last Wednesday’s game. Sánchez was often behind in the count.

“He was a little rough early,” Mattingly said. “I don’t know if this thing’s on his mind at all. He knew he had to get through four. He seemed to settle down a little more after that.”

A smattering of Phillies fans seated behind the dugout acknowledged Sánchez after the fourth inning when he established the franchise record.

He needed only 38 pitches for the next nine outs. Crawford’s catch in the sixth inning was the exclamation point.

“It was special,” Crawford said. “It was special to be a part of it. It’s been really fun watching him pitch throughout the whole year. Just being able to help a little bit was really cool.”

In the seventh, after his 504th and final pitch of May, Sánchez screamed. He pounded his left fist against his glove. He has a 1.47 ERA this season. He will resume his historic quest Wednesday at Citizens Bank Park, against the Padres again. Sánchez did not love all of the postgame attention; he deflected the praise and lauded the athletic training staff and his coaches.

But he is the one who stands alone, the owner of a feat that no one who has worn a Phillies uniform for more than a century can match.

“It’s just really special,” Sánchez said, “to share things like this with this tremendous group that we have in this organization.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Copyright 2026 The New York Times Company

This story was originally published June 2, 2026 at 4:29 PM.