PHILADELPHIA -- Cristopher Sánchez has pitched like an ace all season.
It's been an added luxury for a Phillies team that has had Zack Wheeler cemented in that role for the past half-decade. But with Wheeler's status for the rest of the season now up in the air, Sánchez’s ascension has gone from luxury to necessity.
In his first start since Wheeler landed on the IL due to a blood clot, Sánchez pitched like, well, Cristopher Sánchez. He tied a career high with 12 strikeouts, though a bullpen letdown forced him to settle for a no-decision in Tuesday night's 6-4 win over the Mariners at Citizens Bank Park.
"No one can fill Zack's shoes on the mound," Sánchez said via a team interpreter. "He's one of the best pitchers not only on this team, but in the whole game."
That may be, but Sánchez hasn't been far behind -- and that dates back longer than this season.
"In my opinion, he's been that guy for a couple years now," said catcher J.T. Realmuto, who kept Sánchez's outing from going to waste with a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth. "Obviously, we have Zack as well at the top, but there are a lot of teams Sanchy would be the ace on."
Realmuto went 2-for-3 with three RBIs to raise his average to .326 since the start of June. That ranks third in the Majors during that span, behind only Nick Kurtz of the Athletics and Xavier Edwards of the Marlins.
Like Realmuto, Sánchez has been particularly dominant over the past two and a half months. His 1.94 ERA since the start of June is easily the best in the Majors (Paul Skenes is second with a 2.17 ERA).
Sánchez was on the attack all night against Seattle, throwing 26 first-pitch strikes to 27 batters.
"I'm not sure if I've seen that before to tell you the truth," manager Rob Thomson said.
There's a reason for that.
At 96.3%, it was the highest first-pitch strike percentage by any Phillies pitcher since tracking began in 2000 (minimum 15 batters). The previous record was held by Cliff Lee (94.1% on Sept. 20, 2009).
"He was really good," Thomson said of Sánchez. "Command was excellent, he was fairly efficient, the changeup was good, the slider was really good tonight. He gave us a great start."
By now, Sánchez's rise from erratic hard-throwing prospect to bona fide big league ace has been well-documented.
After struggling with control issues over his first couple of big league seasons, Sánchez started to put it all together in a 2023 season in which he posted a 3.44 ERA over 19 games (18 starts). He fully broke out one year later, going 11-9 with a 3.32 ERA over 31 starts while earning his first career All-Star selection and finishing 10th for the NL Cy Young Award.
Sánchez's name will be much higher on ballots this season.
Sánchez ranks third among NL pitchers in ERA (2.46) and fifth in strikeouts (169).
"He's had that type of stuff and he's been doing it for years now," Realmuto said. "So there's no reason he won't continue that."
Sánchez's 157 innings are the second most in the Majors (trailing only Logan Webb's 160 2/3), but he's shown no signs of slowing down. Sánchez had a 1.85 ERA in June, a 1.95 ERA in July and he holds a 2.05 ERA so far in August.
Sánchez barely cracked the Phillies’ postseason mix in 2023, earning just one start. That came in Game 4 of the NL Championship Series -- and it came with a very short leash. Last year, he was the club’s Game 2 starter in the NL Division Series against the Mets, but that had more to do with his drastic home/road splits than anything else. (Aaron Nola started Game 3 when the series shifted to Citi Field.)
This year, Sánchez is in line to be the unquestioned Game 1 starter if Wheeler isn't available.
Beyond Sánchez, the Phillies are still confident in the rest of their rotation. They're hoping Ranger Suárez's strong outing on Monday is a sign that he's ready to recapture his first-half dominance and they believe Nola will look more like himself as he settles in after missing three months.
"Obviously, it's tough to lose Wheeler -- you're never going to replace a guy like that," Realmuto said. "But we have a lot of good arms on this team and a really good rotation still."
For now, though, it all starts with Sánchez.