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NEW YORK — Cristopher Sánchez was reeling.
He had just allowed a run to score on a bases loaded walk to the Mets’ J.D. Martinez. He had no outs and had already thrown 24 pitches in the inning with only 11 landing for strikes. He couldn’t command his pitches down in the zone. Sánchez signaled to the dugout and Rob Thomson walked out with a trainer.
Sánchez was dealing with what Thomson called a “stinger.” He gets them from time to time, so there wasn’t much concern. The break gave Sánchez a must-needed reset.
He then struck out Brett Baty, Harrison Bader and Jeff McNeil on nine pitches. Take away the mess and you have an immaculate inning.
Sánchez’s brilliance allowed him to do what the Phillies desperately needed him to do: eat innings. He ended up pitching into the sixth inning, coming one out short of his fourth quality start of the season.
Sánchez’s ability to grind out 5 2/3 of three-run ball gave the bullpen a chance to keep things close, ultimately leading to a thrilling two-run ninth inning comeback against Edwin Diaz and a 5-4 victory in 10 innings to push the Phillies’ win total to 29.
The Phillies were operating with a short bullpen and bench. Kyle Schwarber (back) and J.T. Realmuto (knee) were out of the starting lineup. Realmuto was the only position player on the roster not used in the game.
The Phillies’ two best relievers of the year so far, Jeff Hoffman and Matt Strahm, were both unavailable after pitching back-to-back days, though Thomson did say after the game that he was willing to budge on his strict usage rules if the game went beyond ten innings. Spencer Turnbull was also unavailable after pitching one inning on Sunday.
Outside of Seranthony Domínguez’s struggles with command, the bullpen behind Sánchez was nearly perfect. Gregory Soto looked better in relief of Domínguez, José Ruiz pitched an easy 1-2-3 eighth against the Mets’ 9-1-2 and Orion Kerkering attacked hitters with his sweeper to get the heart of the Mets order out.
From the fourth inning on, the Mets registered only two hits. Both came off the bat of Martinez.
The Phillies have not lost back-to-back games since April 23-24.
“The roster is deep,” Bryson Stott said. “It’s just kind of showing how deep it actually is.”
Diaz came to the mound in the ninth with Timmy Trumpets blaring and the 5-6-7 of Stott, Edmundo Sosa and Brandon Marsh due up.
With a 2-1 count, Stott attacked an inside fastball and sent it over the right field wall to give the Phillies some hope.
Pinch hitter Kody Clemens followed up with a base hit on a slider outside. Marsh then walked on four pitches. Phillies fans that made the trip erupted when they saw Schwarber walk to the plate as the pinch hitter for Johan Rojas. With Diaz rattled, the Phillies had a real chance.
But the Mets closer was able to get back in the strike zone, punching out Schwarber and getting Garrett Stubbs to pop up.
With two outs in the ninth, the Phillies were granted a gift. Whit Merrifield went around on a 3-1 pitch out of the zone, but first base umpire Ryan Additon said he checked his swing. That set up a bases loaded opportunity for Bohm, who drove in the tying run on a hit by pitch. Stott later drove in the winning run on a sacrifice fly in the 10th.
It was Diaz’s first multi-run blown save in the ninth inning since 2021.
“We put together some good at-bats and made him throw a lot of pitches,” Stott said. “Guys like that who throw the ninth inning, you can grind out at-bats and get that pitch count up. Anything can happen and we did it.”
Monday’s game could have been an unmitigated disaster. Instead it became one of the most thrilling comeback wins of the season. One that will get replayed forever if the team is the last one standing in November.
And it all began when Sánchez was in as much trouble a pitcher could be in and locked in.
“The biggest thing I’m proud of him for is overcoming adversity,” Thomson said. “He got into trouble, long innings the second and third. A lot of pitches put on him. And he just settled in and kept pitching. That’s the growth in this guy. He’s really something.”
“The important thing is that after struggling those two innings, I can battle my way through it,” Sánchez said through interpreter Diego D’Aniello Perez.
Sánchez had one more thing to add.
“And we won, which is the most important thing.”
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