Cristopher Sánchez was torched for nine runs and 12 hits over 3 1/3 innings Monday in a loss to the Royals.
It’s hard not to wonder how much differently things would have gone if Trea Turner hadn’t botched an easy double play relay that would have resulted in Sánchez throwing 15 pitches in a scoreless first inning. He went on to give up six runs and throw 31 pitches in the frame. Still, as unfortunate as that was, it seemed pretty clear that Sánchez just didn’t have it today. He gave up three homers on his changeup, which is just nuts. It matches the number of homers he’d yielded on his previous 1,753 changeups since the beginning of 2025. Sánchez failed to last five innings for the first time since May 24, 2025 and gave up more than six runs for the first time since Aug. 2024. He’d never before surrendered three homers. The performance took his ERA from 2.00 to 2.62, dropping him from second to 10th on the MLB leaderboard. Sánchez is expected to make his next start Saturday against the Tigers.
