Phillies ace Sanchez calls poor outing ‘crap,’ can’t pinpoint reason for his struggles

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Philadelphia Phillies ace Cristopher Sánchez summed up one of the worse outings of his career with one word: crap.

Sánchez could have used much stronger language after giving up a career-worst nine earned runs in just 3 1/3 innings in Monday’s 15-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals.

Asked after the game if he could pinpoint something that led to the bad outing, the 29-year-old left-hander was lost for a cause.

“Nothing really,” he said through an interpreter. “I mean, it’s just a game. As I learn from the good things that we have on the field, and the things when we perform well, the same thing when I don’t perform. I just try to learn from it.”

Sanchez, whose previous worst outing for earned runs allowed was seven against the Cubs in April, gave up three of the Royals’ four home runs - all on his changeup, one of his signature pitches. Again, he had no answer as to why.

“I don’t really know,” he said. “Maybe it wasn’t doing as it always does. You gotta get credit to them, because they got me today, They made me pay, and you just have to keep going.”

Sánchez was not helped by his defense. With the Phillies leading 1-0 in the bottom of the first, Sánchez faced runners on first and third with one out. Jac Caglianone hit a grounder to second for a force at the base, but shortstop Trea Turner’s relay throw to first was wild, allowing Bobby Witt Jr. to score the tying run. The Royals went on to score five more runs in the first, and the rout was on.

“You’ve got to make (that play),” Turner said. “Who knows how that game ends up. (If) he gets out of it clean, and then gets on a roll, who knows how it turns out. That was a game-changer.”

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Phillies manager Don Mattingly agreed that the first inning impacted the whole game. But, it wasn’t the only issue for the Phillies, who lost two of three to the AL Central’s last-place Royals.

“I know you can’t assume a double play, but with Trea, you would think it’s a double play,” the manager said. “You gotta make that throw.

“But after that, we didn’t really stop them either. And we had some chances. In the first couple innings, we get the bases loaded twice, (and) we don’t score. We end up leaving 15. (We had) 10 hits, seven walks and only get one run. We had chances to kind of creep back in it.”

Mattingly is not concerned about Sanchez in the long term, even though he allowed five and four earned runs in his previous two road starts.

“You’re always kind of looking at everything,” Mattingly said. “He doesn’t seem to be as sharp (on the road) as at home. I don’t know if that has necessarily anything to do with it. Obviously, you don’t have the same mound you’re used to, but everybody pitches on the road.”

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Sanchez has one more scheduled start - likely at Detroit - prior to the All Star break. He’s going to try to figure it out by then.

“I know that it’s something that’s happened on the road,” he said. “I don’t really have an answer for that. Maybe not being so familiar with the stadiums, but it’s just something that we have to improve.”