“Javier Assad has faced 51 batters without allowing a single barreled ball”. So said the helpful auto-generated commentary in the MLB app’s Gameday feature after Trea Turner grounded out to start the bottom of the first. The next play read “Kyle Schwarber homers (5) on a fly ball to center field”.
Well. Can an AI create a jinx? If a billy goat can, probably (then again, goats may be stronger than robots, since they eat tin cans). At any rate, the Phillies had a 1-0 lead against the visitors from the Senior Circuit’s Chicago club.
It was a battle between sinkerballers: Javier Assad and Cristopher Sánchez. Both got off to a bit of a rocky start: Assad with his inability to reach 52 batters without a barrel, and Sánchez with his putting two on (via liner hit and walk) to open the second. It got worse for Cris when another single loaded the bases, with just one away. What’s a sinker specialist to do when he gets that sinking feeling? Well, rely on ol’ faithful. A trio of low and inside sinkers produced a trio of whiffs for Pete Crow-Armstrong. Sánchez showed one more sinker to Matt Shaw, decided four in a row was enough, and got out number three by inducing a weak grounder on a changeup.
In the second inning, Brandon Marsh got on base with a worm burner through the right side. He stole second, then scored when the Cubbies lost a fly ball from J.T. Realmuto, allowing it to land harmlessly on the grass (well, harmlessly for the ball, less so for the visitors). A bad break for the baby bears, but they got a better one in the bottom of the third, when Turner smacked a ball that went just to the wrong side of the foul pole; a crew chief review confirmed that the Phillies would have to wait for the next ringing of the roundtripper bell.
Not much longer, though. Turner singled to left, and Assad gave Schwarber a two-seamer that hung up in the middle of the zone, and in turn Schwarber ripped open a few more seams on it. The ill-fated sinker went sailing into center, and the Phillies were up 4-0.
They were cruising. Then the robots chimed in. Not the ABS robot (which helpfully confirmed a fourth ball for Brandon Marsh in the bottom third). Rather, it was the Gameday AI, which noted that “Sánchez’s slider is dropping more vs. last season” after Carson Kelly singled. The good news for the Phillies was that the AI didn’t really jinx Sánchez; it wasn’t his slider that cause him trouble. It was his sinker, as Dansby Swanson swatted one over the right field fence to narrow the Philadelphia lead to two in the fourth.
Sánchez faced more trouble in the top of the fifth, as an error by Turner and a walk to Seiya Suzuki put two on with one away. Fortunately, though, a sinker specialist is especially well equipped to navigate that situation: a sinker low and inside to J.A. Happ induced a weak ground ball, as the pitch is designed to do, and the inning ended without further damage.
Sanchez’ sibling in sinkerhood would not be so fortunate. Assad walked Schwarber to start the bottom of the fifth (Gameday AI noted that Schwarber’s bat speed is down nearly 2 MPH from last year, and that one is actually interesting, thank you robots), then allowed singles to Bryce Harper and Adolis García to load the bases with none away. Marsh hit one to center to score two, and Bohm produced a sacrifice fly to score another. Marsh scored soon, since Stott swiftly smacked a subpar sinker to center for a swell single, successfully stretching to second subsequently. Stott himself scored when J.T. Realmuto joined the hit parade, and Assad’s night was done. In the duel of the sinkers, Sánchez emerged as the decisive victor.
Things didn’t get much better for the Cubbies in the sixth. Reliever Charlie Barnes plunked Schwarber, walked Harper, and allowed an RBI double to García before recording an out. Bohm scored Harper with a productive groundout, Realmuto scored García with a single, and the Phillies had a dozen runs.
As the seventh dawned, Sánchez’ day ended, with a 6 hit, 8 K, 2 ER line. Seth Johnson replaced him, and navigated through the inning without allowing a run. The same could not be said of the Cubs. Sorely missing the Friendly Confines, they looked all around for some sign of comfort. But it was BOGO hot dog night, and the Cubs were in the land of the Phillies Frank, not Vienna Beef. Perhaps shaken by the lack of celery salt and sport peppers on the dogs, they allowed a 13th run on a throwing error from Swanson.
They must’ve found a lucky piece of Wrigley ivy in a pocket after the seventh, as Johnson and his fielders struggled mightily in the top of the eighth. The first six runners reached base and four runs scored before an out was recorded, aided by errors from Marsh and Bohm. Johnson got two outs, but allowed another run on a Suzuki single, and was pulled. Orion Kerkering subbed in, offered Happ a trio of sweepers on the outer edge, watched him take all of them for called strikes, and the inning ended. So did the game, after Kerkering’s quick work (leadoff double, then three consecutive outs) in the ninth.
The Phillies are 8-8. They’ll return to action against the Cubs tomorrow at 6:40, with Aaron Nola and Colin Rea scheduled to duel.
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