Cristopher Sanchez struck out a career-high 12 batters over seven innings Thursday as the Philadelphia Phillies nipped the visiting San Francisco Giants 6-4 to earn a split of their four-game series.
Sanchez (2-0) used his changeup to record 11 strikeouts as part of a stellar performance in which he allowed three runs – two earned – and four hits with only one walk. The Phillies scored five runs on five hits in the first inning against Jordan Hicks (1-2), but they only managed one hit after the opening frame.
Matt Chapman and Tyler Fitzgerald homered for the Giants, who struck out 14 times. San Francisco had won five of its previous seven games.
Philadelphia quickly fell behind on a first-inning RBI single by Chapman, but the hosts got that run back – and more – in the bottom half of the frame.
Bryson Stott and Trea Turner singled to open the inning before Bryce Harper walked to load the bases. Kyle Schwarber singled through the right side to make it 2-0 and then Nick Castellanos delivered a single to tack on another run.
Hicks recovered to get the next two batters, but his wild pitch allowed the Phillies to plate a fourth run. He probably should have gotten out of the inning when Alec Bohm lofted a fly ball to deep center, but it caromed off Luis Matos’ glove near the fence, allowing Castellanos to score on Bohm’s triple.
San Francisco chipped away in the sixth, as Heliot Ramos reached on an error by Turner before Chapman launched a two-run homer to left – his sixth hit in the last three games – to make it 5-3.
Sanchez struck out the final two Giants of the sixth and then added two more punchouts in the seventh.
Orion Kerkering struck out two in a perfect eighth. Jose Alvarado allowed Fitzgerald’s homer in the ninth before wrapping up his fourth save.
Hicks recovered from the rough first inning to log seven frames for San Francisco. He yielded five runs, six hits and four walks, striking out five.
