Cristopher Sánchez's scoreless innings streak ends, but not before he made history in Phillies' 3-2 win

Scott Lauber, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Jun 3, 2026

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

PHILADELPHIA — Cristopher Sánchez uncorked his last warmup pitch and bobbed his head to “Coronao Now,” the song that precedes his starts at home.

On the edge of history, the Phillies ace was cool as ever.

“You know,” interim manager Don Mattingly said a few hours earlier, “at some point this year, he’s going to give up a run.”

Sure enough, it happened Wednesday night in the seventh inning of the Phillies’ 3-2 victory over the punchless Padres. Sánchez gave up a two-out double and an RBI single, proving only that he is, in fact, human.

By then, though, Sánchez had run his scoreless streak to 50 2/3 innings. It was already the longest in Phillies history. In the end, it was the fifth-longest overall — and the longest by a left-hander — since at least 1893 when the mound moved to its current distance.

And when Ty France slid across home plate ahead of a throw from left field on Jackson Merrill’s game-tying single, most of the 40,453 paying customers stood for a prolonged ovation in recognition of the achievement.

The cheers were louder, of course, when J.T. Realmuto led off the bottom of the seventh with a go-ahead homer to left field. And three batters later, when Kyle Schwarber made it 3-1 with his majors-leading 23rd homer.

Brad Keller gave up a run in the eighth inning, but Jhoan Duran improved to 14 for 14 in save opportunities to secure the Phillies’ seventh win in 10 games.

Make no mistake, though: Sánchez was the story.

Again.

One week after eclipsing a 115-year-old benchmark for the longest scoreless streak by a Phillies pitcher, the tall, skinny lefty was one inning from passing Carl Hubbell, a Hall of Famer, for the longest mark by a lefty.

It took 13 pitches — plus, one confirmed replay review and one confirmed ABS challenge — for Sánchez to get through Fernando Tatis Jr., Miguel Andujar and Manny Machado atop the Padres’ order.

Tatis struck out on a vintage Sánchez change-up before second baseman Bryson Stott ranged behind second base to throw out Andujar. The Padres asked for a review, and the call was upheld.

Machado unsuccessfully challenged a strike call on an 0-1 sinker before grounding to shortstop.

With that, Sánchez passed Sal Maglie, Cy Young and lefty Doc White (45 innings), as well as Hubbell (45 1/3).

Next up: Zack Greinke at 45 2/3 innings. No problem. Sánchez retired the side in the second inning.

Up next: Bob Gibson at 47 innings. Sure thing. Sánchez sidestepped a two-out walk in the third.

Sánchez didn’t give up a hit until Machado’s one-out single in the fourth. He didn’t allow a runner into scoring position until France’s two-out double in the seventh when the streak finally ended.

So, Sánchez won’t reach Orel Hershiser’s major league record of 59 consecutive scoreless innings.

Maybe next time.

“I’ll tell you guys the truth, man, I don’t think a lot of us are talking about it,” Bryce Harper said before the game. “Not just because it’s a streak, but it just seems simple and normal for him to go out there and just pitch and do his thing.

“He’s just a super special pitcher. Nothing against the streak or anything, but he’s been doing it for so long that it feels like he’s been on the streak for a couple of years, you know what I’m saying?

“It’s a lot of fun to be part of, and it’s really cool.”