Philadelphia Phillies left-hander Cristopher Sanchez continued his historic run with another dominant performance Friday night against the Cleveland Guardians at Citizens Bank Park, even though it ended in a frustrating 1–0 loss.
Sanchez delivered 8.0 scoreless innings, allowing just four hits and two walks while striking out six on 96 pitches. The outing extended his scoreless streak to 37.2 innings, now the second-longest in Phillies history since the mound was moved to its current distance in 1893.
With that performance, Sanchez surpassed Cliff Lee’s 34-inning streak from 2011 and moved past several notable Phillies arms, including Larry Andersen, Turk Farrell, Hall of Famer Robin Roberts, Ranger Suárez, and Ken Heintzelman.
Only Grover Cleveland Alexander remains ahead of Sanchez in franchise history, having thrown 41 consecutive scoreless innings in 1911. Sanchez entered the night with 29.2 straight scoreless innings and now sits just 3.2 innings away from breaking the long-standing team record.
The streak began on April 30 against the San Francisco Giants, when Sanchez last allowed a run. Since then, he has been nearly untouchable, recording 24 shutout innings over his next three starts and 32 scoreless innings across his last four outings, with 36 strikeouts and only three walks during that span.
Sanchez also became the first Philadelphia pitcher since Clayton Kershaw in 2015 to post four consecutive starts of at least seven innings without allowing a run. In his most recent gem, he did not allow a single baserunner to reach second base.
On the season, Sanchez owns a 1.62 ERA with a 1.15 WHIP and 86 strikeouts over 72.1 innings, building on his breakout 2025 campaign in which he finished as the National League Cy Young runner-up.
Despite his brilliance, the Phillies’ offense was stifled by Cleveland starter Gavin Williams, who went 8.0 innings while allowing four hits and striking out 11. The Guardians ultimately won the game in the ninth inning when Jhoan Duran surrendered a pinch-hit home run to Kyle Manzardo.
Sanchez is scheduled to take the mound again Wednesday against the San Diego Padres as he continues his historic pursuit, though Orel Hershiser’s all-time MLB scoreless streak of 59 innings from 1988 remains far out of reach.