Balk throws Sánchez off his rhythm in rare blip for Phillies' ace

NEW YORK -- The pitch that defined Cristopher Sánchez’s outing on Monday night was one he didn’t even throw.

The Phillies surely felt good about handing the ball to Sánchez, their deserving and de facto ace, to begin a pivotal series with the second-place Mets. And things looked undeniably rosy early: Sánchez did not allow a hit through three innings while the bats staked him to a 3-0 lead.

But things went awry in the fourth inning after Sánchez caught his cleat on the Citi Field mound, paving the way for an eventual 13-3 loss. The Phillies have now lost nine of their past 10 games at this ballpark, including the postseason. Their division lead sits at six games.

“Early on, I thought he was really good,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “Until he got his cleat stuck.”

In a game filled with miscues, that seems to have been the turning point. With two outs in the fourth inning and Pete Alonso aboard at first base, Sánchez began to deal a 1-0 pitch to Mark Vientos. But he caught a spike, bowing off the mound without delivering a pitch -- balking Alonso to second base.

On the next pitch, Sánchez skipped a changeup to the backstop. Two pitches later, Vientos hooked a double past a sliding Alec Bohm down the third-base line. The next three batters reached, too. In a 12-pitch span, Sánchez had relinquished the three-run lead -- all with two outs.

“I think it threw me off my rhythm a little bit,” Sánchez said.

“It was really strange,” Thomson added. “... From that point on, he was behind in the count. He had to get [his pitches] in the middle of the plate. I’m not sure if that affected him or not, but it kind of looked like it did.”

Sánchez reiterated that the incident didn’t impact him physically. But he acknowledged that it affected his pitches, and even his confidence, too.

All told, Monday marked a rare blemish for the left-hander, who has been so stellar for the Phillies -- and is now taking on an outsized role, with Zack Wheeler lost for the season. Sánchez lasted just 5 1/3 innings, snapping a 14-start stretch in which he completed six. He was charged with six runs (five earned) for the first time since Aug. 11, 2024, and he allowed eight hits, tying a single-game season high.

“I missed a lot of pitches early on,” said Sánchez, who did not allow a hit his first time through the order. “I felt regular at the beginning. But in the end, they reacted, they adjusted, and I have to give them credit for that.”

Of note, Sánchez did not have a feel for his signature weapon, a dastardly changeup. The pitch entered the night inducing a 45.1% whiff rate. But against the Mets, he recorded just three whiffs with the changeup, tied for his second fewest in a game this season.

“For the whole season, this was my worst outing when it comes to the changeup,” Sánchez said. “We could all see that.”

From there, the Phillies went quietly. Their last hit came from Harrison Bader leading off the fourth inning. Jordan Romano (four runs) and Joe Ross (three) each stumbled in relief. It’s the first time that the Phillies have allowed double-digit runs since June 21 -- an 11-4 loss to the Mets.

By the end of it, the 3-0 lead resembled a distant memory. Per Elias, it was only the sixth time ever that the Phillies, after a lead of 3-0 or greater, allowed 13 or more unanswered runs to end the game.

“It’s a good team over there,” said first baseman Bryce Harper, who contributed to a botched rundown in the fifth inning, eventually leading to the go-ahead run. “... Obviously, tonight didn’t go the way we wanted to. It kind of got away from us in the fifth, sixth inning.”

The Phillies, unlike the Mets, are playing with the luxury of a substantial division lead. But this is also their chance to bury their rivals, with six more head-to-head meetings still to come across the next 16 games.

“We got another one tomorrow,” Thomson said. “Just got to strap it on. Have to turn the page on this one. This was not what we were looking for, coming in here. So we got to turn the page and get out there tomorrow.”