A night after the Phillies watched a game unravel, Cristopher Sánchez spent Saturday making sure the next one never did.
Sánchez restored order with seven-plus innings, Derek Hill influenced the game with his legs, bat and glove, and the Phillies ended Detroit’s six-game winning streak with a 4-2 victory Saturday night at Comerica Park.
The win evened the three-game series and moved the Phillies to 53-43 entering Sunday’s finale. More important, it looked like a response. Philadelphia had been beaten, 10-2, in the opener and needed more than a routine bounce-back performance. It needed its best players to steady the club before the All-Star break.
Sánchez did exactly that.
The left-hander allowed two runs on 10 hits, struck out seven and worked into the eighth inning. The line was busier than the performance felt. Detroit collected baserunners, but Sánchez controlled the moments that mattered, keeping the Tigers hitless in six at-bats with runners in scoring position and preventing their traffic from becoming a sustained rally.
It was a needed return to form after Sánchez surrendered nine runs in 3 1/3 innings against Kansas City in his previous start. One ugly afternoon had interrupted one of the strongest first halves by any pitcher in baseball. Saturday served as a reminder that the Kansas City outing was the exception, not the new standard.
The Phillies built their first run almost entirely through Hill.
He reached on a throwing error to open the third, stole second, stole third and scored on Trea Turner’s sacrifice fly. It was the type of sequence the Phillies do not always manufacture — pressure applied without waiting for a home run.
Hill then protected the lead in the bottom of the inning. Zach McKinstry drove a ball toward the left-center-field gap with a runner aboard, but Hill covered the ground and made a diving catch near the warning track. What appeared capable of becoming an extra-base hit instead became the second out.
The Phillies created separation in the fourth.
Brandon Marsh walked, Bryson Stott singled and J.T. Realmuto drove both home with a double to left field. Hill followed with a two-out RBI single, scoring Realmuto and pushing the lead to 4-0.
That inning was the difference. The Phillies finished with only six hits, but they concentrated three of them into their most productive stretch and forced Tigers starter Casey Mize to work from behind. Mize allowed four runs, three earned, over 5 2/3 innings.
Detroit rookie Eduardo Valencia cut the margin to three with a solo homer in the fifth, his second home run in three games since reaching the majors. The Tigers continued to put runners aboard, but Sánchez repeatedly found a way through.
The only real danger arrived in the eighth.
Sánchez walked Matt Vierling and allowed a single to Kevin McGonigle before Jonathan Bowlan entered and hit Dillon Dingler, loading the bases with nobody out. The tying run stood on first, and the game had suddenly tightened.
Bowlan escaped by getting Spencer Torkelson to ground into a double play. One run scored, but two outs disappeared with it. After intentionally walking Riley Greene, Bowlan retired Valencia to preserve the 4-2 lead.
Jhoan Duran handled the ninth without drama, retiring the Tigers in order for his 24th save.
The Phillies did not overwhelm Detroit. They did something more useful. They received a stabilizing start, created runs with speed and situational hitting, and made the defensive plays that prevented a close game from turning.
One night after nearly everything went wrong, the Phillies looked like themselves again.
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