PHILADELPHIA — For much of the night, it looked like the Phillies might only score one run against the Athletics. As it turned out, one run was all Cristopher Sánchez needed, but the Phillies would give him plenty more in a 9-1 victory.
Bryce Harper got the scoring started with his eighth homer of the season:
Bryce Harper goes yard for the second night in a row👀👀👀
(via @TalkinBaseball_) pic.twitter.com/pqUHOwAso9
It was Harper's third career regular-season homer off of Luis Severino, and fourth overall if you count his dramatic blast in Game 2 of the 2024 NLDS against the New York Mets. Severino was solid overall, scattering seven hits and one run over five innings.
The Phillies wouldn't score again until the bottom of the seventh, but they hung a five spot on the duo of Mark Leiter Jr. and Tyler Ferguson. Adolis García drove in the first run on a sacrifice fly, J.T. Realmuto plated two more runs with an RBI double and then Bryson Stott hit a two-run home run off the Toyota sign in right field, his third homer in five days:
Great Stott, that was a ROCKET😳
(via @ToddZolecki) pic.twitter.com/qmaa0RyIA3
Trea Turner brought in Justin Crawford with an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning, extending the lead to 7-0. Bryce Harper then hit a two-run homer just out of the reach of center fielder Zack Gelof, who fooled everyone in the stadium into thinking he caught it. In any event, it was the 31st career multi-homer game of Harper's career, and his first this season:
Everyone thought Zack Gelof had robbed this one… but Bryce Harper actually went yard for the SECOND time tonight! pic.twitter.com/zFZ95L18w4
That was more than enough for Sánchez, who turned in his best outing of the season. Sánchez struck out 10 batters and allowed just three hits across eight shutout innings. The only real jam Sánchez got into came in the top of the seventh inning, but he ended up stranding a pair of runners in scoring position by striking out Darell Hernáiz, a major moment in what was a 1-0 game at the time. It was the ninth career double-digit strikeout game for Sánchez, and his first since Opening Day against the Texas Rangers on March 26.
Even though he had a stretch where he was giving up a lot of hits, Sánchez now has a 2.42 ERA, 2.40 FIP and 1.6 WAR to show for his first eight starts of 2026.
Jhoan Duran – who had started warming up before the Phillies added three more runs in the bottom of the eighth inning — finished off the game in the ninth inning after being activated from the injured list Tuesday. Duran struggled with his control in his first appearance since April 11, walking in one run in what turned out to be a low-leverage situation. He couldn't preserve the shutout, but the Phillies had plenty of margin for error as Duran shook off some rust.
With the win, the Phillies improve to 16-20, and 7-1 since Don Mattingly took over as interim manager.
The Phillies and A's will continue the City Series Wednesday evening, with Jeffrey Springs (3-2, 3.96 ERA and 4.44 FIP across 38 2/3 innings) set to face off with Zack Wheeler (1-0, 2.45 ERA and 1.96 FIP over 11 innings). For Wheeler, it will be his first start at Citizens Bank Park since Aug. 2 of last season.
