The All-Star Game came to Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday night, and the American League left with a 4-0 shutout — the National League’s first since 2013. For the Phillies, the damage was concentrated in the top of the first, when Cristopher Sánchez allowed three runs in front of his home crowd and took the loss opposite Dylan Cease.
Sánchez was the first Phillies pitcher to start an All-Star Game since Roy Halladay in 2011, and the first to start one in Philadelphia since Curt Simmons in 1952. He opened it well, striking out Mike Trout. Then Yordan Alvarez singled, Shea Langeliers and Bobby Witt Jr. walked to load the bases with two outs, Cody Bellinger lined a two-run single, and Ben Rice followed with an RBI single. The inning ran 34 pitches. The final line: one inning, three hits, three runs, two walks, two strikeouts.
The rest of the Phillies’ night went better. Jesús Luzardo threw a perfect inning with a strikeout, and Jhoan Duran worked around a hit in two scoreless thirds. The bats went quiet along with everyone else’s in a 15-strikeout night for AL pitching: Kyle Schwarber went 0-for-2, Brandon Marsh 0-for-2 with two strikeouts, and Bryce Harper 0-for-1 as the NL managed three hits.
One inning in an exhibition does not change what Sánchez has been for four months. He reached the break 11-4 with a 2.62 ERA, a 1.19 WHIP and 144 strikeouts across 127.1 innings in 20 starts — the résumé that earned him the ball on Tuesday. The team he fronts is in good position too: 54-43, two games behind Atlanta in the NL East and holding a two-game cushion on the wild-card field when the second half opens this weekend.
For fantasy managers, nothing here moves. The All-Star line counts toward nothing, Sánchez’s strikeout rate still sits comfortably above one per inning, and he remains a top-15 starter the moment Philadelphia’s second half begins. Start him as usual.
