Cristopher Sánchez quickly put the worst start of his career behind him.
The Phillies left-hander delivered seven strong innings Saturday night, helping Philadelphia earn a 4-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. The win snapped Detroit’s six-game winning streak and improved the Phillies to 53-43.
Sánchez allowed two runs on 10 hits, struck out seven and walked only one. He returned for the eighth inning but was removed after allowing consecutive singles without recording an out. Both runners eventually scored, leaving his official line at seven innings.
It was an important response after Sánchez was knocked around by the Kansas City Royals in his previous appearance. He surrendered a career-high nine earned runs, 12 hits and three home runs over just 3⅓ innings in Philadelphia’s 15-1 loss.
Despite allowing plenty of traffic against Detroit, Sánchez repeatedly worked his way out of trouble. One of his biggest escapes came in the seventh, when the Tigers opened the inning with two singles. Sánchez answered with a strikeout before inducing an inning-ending double play.
“He bent, but didn’t break,” Phillies manager Don Mattingly said after the game.
Philadelphia gave Sánchez an early lead when Trea Turner brought home Derek Hill with a sacrifice fly in the third inning. J.T. Realmuto broke the game open an inning later with a two-run double, and Hill followed with an RBI single to make it 4-0.
Hill also made one of the game’s biggest defensive plays against his former team, robbing Zach McKinstry with a diving catch that prevented Detroit from scoring.
Eduardo Valencia put the Tigers on the board with a solo home run in the fifth. Detroit added another run in the eighth, but Jonathan Bowlan limited the damage before Jhoan Duran retired the Tigers in order in the ninth for his 24th save.
Sánchez improved to 11-4 and lowered his ERA to 2.62. The 29-year-old is headed to his second consecutive All-Star Game and remains a candidate to start for the National League in Philadelphia. Earlier this season, he put together a remarkable streak of 50⅔ consecutive scoreless innings.
After an ugly night in Kansas City, Sánchez’s performance against one of the American League’s hottest teams was exactly the kind of rebound the Phillies wanted to see from their ace.