Christopher Sánchez Makes Phillies History During Padres Start

Denis Poroy-Imagn Images

Christopher Sánchez Makes Phillies History During Padres Start

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Nicholas Covone | Last updated May 27, 2026 6:21 PM ET

Phillies left-handed pitcher Christopher Sánchez has been incredible to start his 2026 MLB campaign. Coming off of his breakout 2025 season which saw him finish second in Cy Young award voting to Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes, Sánchez seems to have his eyes set on taking the award home this season.

Coming into his 12th start of the season against San Diego, Sánchez posted a 1.62 ERA with 85 strikeouts in 72 1/3 innings pitched.

He also came into this start riding a 37 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings streak which is the second longest in Phillies franchise history. The 29-year-old needed to pitch four more scoreless innings to set the franchise record held by Grover Alexander set in 1911.

Facing Padres outfielder Jackson Merrill with two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning, Sánchez induced a groundball to second baseman Bryson Stott to end the inning. In doing so, Sánchez secured the Phillies franchise record for the longest scoreless inning streak at 41 2/3 innings.

HISTORY FOR SANCHIE

Cristopher Sánchez now holds the Phillies franchise record for consecutive scoreless innings at 41.2!@Toyota x #RingTheBell pic.twitter.com/zR7PCCfTE8
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) May 27, 2026

The streak started almost a month ago on April 30th against the San Francisco Giants in the second inning. Since that game, Sánchez rolled through another five scoreless outings, highlighted by a 13 strikeout complete game shutout against the Pirates on May 16th.

During his outing against the Padres, Sánchez pitched seven innings of scoreless baseball with eight strikeouts. Keeping the streak alive and extending it to 44 2/3 innings.

Five consecutive scoreless outings of at like seven innings pitched is another Phillies franchise record.

Following this start, the Cy Young frontrunner has an ERA of 1.47 in 79.1 innings.

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cristopher Sanchez (61), Denis Poroy-Imagn Images

The all time record for the longest scoreless inning streak in MLB history belongs to Dodgers legend Orel Hershiser with 59 scoreless innings in 1988. Sánchez will certainly have his work cut out for him to achieve that record.

Christopher Sánchez smoothly slotted into the first ace position in the starting rotation after right-handed pitcher Zack Wheeler went down with an injury in the summer of the 2025 season. Since then, he has only continued to improve. In two postseason starts last season, he pitched to a 2.25 ERA, keeping the Phillies title hopes alive against the reigning World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers. With Zack Wheeler back on the mound this season, the two form the best pitching duo in baseball, with hopes to lead the Phillies deep into October.

Following the series win against the Padres, the Phillies will travel to Los Angeles for a rematch of the 2025 National League Division Series starting Friday night.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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