While shutting down the light-hitting San Diego Padres in the first two contests of a three-game series, the Philadelphia Phillies also have belted five home runs at pitcher-friendly Petco Park.
As a result, Philadelphia has a chance to post a road sweep on Wednesday with its ace pitcher taking the mound against a team he usually defeats.
Left-hander Cristopher Sanchez (5-2, 1.62 ERA) is coming off eight scoreless innings Friday night against Cleveland. His dominant performance wasn’t enough for a win, however, as the Guardians scored a run off closer Jhoan Duran in the ninth inning for a 1-0 victory.
Sanchez gave up only four hits and struck out six in the game. He hasn’t given up a run in his last 32 innings, covering four starts. In his career against San Diego, Sanchez is 3-1 with a 2.05 ERA, with two wins coming last year.
He’ll look to post the sixth straight quality start for a Phillies starter. Aaron Nola joined in the fun Tuesday night with six good innings during a 4-3 win, mowing down the first 11 men he faced and permitting just three hits.
Just as meaningful to interim manager Don Mattingly was a big defensive play by third baseman Alec Bohm in the last of the eighth inning. With the Padres down by a run and the potential go-ahead runs on base, Bohm fielded a check-swing bouncer off Manny Machado’s bat and nipped him at first to quash the threat.
“Huge, because if he doesn’t get him, they have the bases loaded. That play is huge,” Mattingly said. “It stopped their rally and kept our lead at one.”
Mattingly also said after the game that right fielder Brandon Marsh, the team’s leading hitter this year at .326, is day-to-day with a sprained right middle finger. Marsh suffered the injury on Tuesday while being picked off first by catcher Freddy Fermin in the top of the first inning.
While Marsh’s finger might be aching, the Padres’ bats are in fine shape because they don’t often make solid contact. They managed just five hits on Tuesday to see their batting average dip to a major-league low .218.
Machado’s two-run homer was one of the hits, but his feeble groundout in the eighth inning was more indicative of how his season has gone. He’s batting just .173 — 103 points below his career average — and stranded six runners in Monday’s 3-0 loss.
“It doesn’t really help that your star player leaves six on base,” Machado said after that defeat. “There goes the game.”
The continuing struggles of Jackson Merrill at the plate are dragging this offense, too. He struck out two more times during an 0-for-4 game Tuesday night, dropping his average to .194.
Manager Craig Stammen continues to believe in the third-year center fielder.
“He still has 10 stolen bases and what, three or four home run robberies? We still believe in him,” Stammen said.
Right-hander Walker Buehler (3-2, 5.05) gets the ball for San Diego in the series finale. He received a no-decision in a 7-3 win Friday night against the Athletics, yielding three runs and five hits over five innings with four walks and four strikeouts.
Buehler has faced Philadelphia five times in his career, four of them as a starter, and is 1-1 with a 4.94 ERA.
–Field Level Media
