Cristopher Sánchez struggles, fielding errors doom Phillies in 8-1 loss to Reds

CINCINNATI — The Phillies’ starters knew that their combined 0.70 ERA wouldn’t last forever, and on Tuesday night, it went up a few ticks. Cristopher Sánchez was not helped by the infield defense, but he struggled with his control and allowed some hard hits. He finished his night at three innings pitched, allowing five runs — one of them earned — on five hits with three walks, two wild pitches, and three strikeouts, in an 8-1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds.

Sánchez now has allowed 11 walks through his five starts. It’s a small sample but a notable one considering how few walks he allowed last season (16 through 19 games). He is striking out hitters at a higher rate than he was in 2023, and is throwing the ball a little bit harder, which could be contributing to the control issues.

Yunior Marte entered in relief of Sánchez in the fourth inning and allowed a single in the fourth inning, and a two-run home run in the fifth inning to give the Reds a 7-1 lead. Orion Kerkering and Matt Strahm each pitched scoreless frames but Ricardo Pinto allowed a home run to Santiago Espinal in the eighth to give the Reds an 8-1 lead.

The Phillies were not able to cobble together the runs they have in recent games. The lineup combined for one run on five hits with seven strikeouts. They went 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position, including a bases loaded situation with no outs in the top of the fifth. Kyle Schwarber struck out, and then the Reds replaced starter Andrew Abbott with reliever Fernando Cruz. Trea Turner struck out for the second out, and J.T. Realmuto lined out to end the inning.

This was the Phillies’ first loss in their last eight games. They are now 15-9 on the season.

Defense makes some blunders

Part of what has enabled the starters to pitch so deep is strong infield and outfield defense, and on Tuesday, it looked a lot more flawed. Sanchez began his outing with fielding error by third baseman Edmundo Sosa to put Stuart Fairchild at first base.

In the bottom of the third inning, with a runner on second and two outs, Christian Encarnacion-Strand hit a ground ball to outfielder Cristian Pache. Pache threw it home, and almost reached Realmuto, but instead hit the base runner — Tyler Stephenson. Stephenson scored, Encarnacion-Strand advanced to third, and Pache was given a throwing error.

Two at-bats later, with runners on second and third, Nick Martini hit a ball to Trea Turner at shortstop. Turner made a great play to snag Martini’s ball in time to throw to Alec Bohm, who made the start at first base, but Turner’s throw was a little off line, and Bohm missed it. Two runs scored, and Bohm was charged with a error (dropped throw).

It was Bohm’s second start of the season at first base. Bryce Harper is on paternity leave, and manager Rob Thomson wanted to keep the right-handed Bohm in the lineup against left-handed pitcher Abbott.

Injury scare for Rojas

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Spencer Steer hit a fly ball to center field. Johan Rojas made a great jumping catch at the wall, but hit the fence and fell to the ground. Thomson and a trainer jogged out to center field to check on him, but he remained in the game.