Christopher Sanchez has been someone the Philadelphia Phillies have relied on this year. He had started 32 games in the regular season, putting together a 13-5 record with a 2.50 ERA across a career-high 202 innings of work.
He was called on to start Game 4 of the NLDS against the Los Angeles Dodgers, and he pitched well. He went six strong innings without giving up a run, but the seventh inning was a different story.
The seventh inning started with Christopher Sanchez getting Will Smith to ground out. However, a controversial call led to Alex Call being walked, and Enrique Hernandez singled after that, leading to Sanchez's day being done.
Jhoan Duran would then come into the game, getting a groundout and then intentionally walking Shohei Ohtani. With Betts up to bat, Duran proceeded to walk him as well, leading to the Dodgers tying the game up at one apiece. The game would stay tied at one until the 11th inning when Orion Kerkering's bobble led to the walk-off win for the Dodgers.
Phillies' Christopher Sanchez addresses crucial missed strike call in Game 4
Christopher Sanchez looked to be in the zone according to K-Zone during the Alex Call at-bat. After the season-ending loss, he let it be known that home plate umpire Mark Wegner missed the call, and he knew it, via NBC Sports Philadelphia's Bob Cooney.
"He knows he missed it because he told me and he apologized to me," said Sanchez. "But a lot of pressure, important game, important situation, you can't miss those things. You can't miss those calls. I get it with the added pressure and all, but the pitch was a strike. So that's going to stick in the back of his mind, there."
Sanchez revealed that Wegner apologized to him for missing the call. Luckily for pitchers next season, this will be a non-issue with the introduction of the ABS System.