Phillies' Cristopher Sanchez makes history twice with great Opening Day start

With Zack Wheeler sidelined to begin the season, the Philadelphia Phillies turned to Cristopher Sanchez to be their Opening Day starter against a solid Texas Rangers lineup.

And Sanchez didn't fail to deliver, putting together a quality start across six innings with 10 strikeouts and no runs allowed. It was a great start to his season, and it did a bit more than simply impress; it made two pieces of history.

As OptaSTATS shared, this 10-strikeout outing made MLB history in the modern era, a feat somewhat hard to believe. And as Matt Gelb of The Athletic shared, Sanchez's strikeout total helped make the Phillies franchise history for the first time since 1997.

Cristopher Sanchez makes Phillies and MLB history with 10-K Opening Day start

"Cristopher Sanchez of the Phillies is the only MLB pitcher in the modern era to have an Opening Day start where he: struck out 10+ batters, allowed 0 walks, allowed 0 runs, allowed 3 or fewer hits, earned the win," OptaStats shared.

This is an incredibly impressive feat for Sanchez. The performance on its own was incredible, but this historical context is even more impressive.

Somehow, since 1900 and the introduction of the "Modern Era," Sanchez is the only pitcher to get a win with 10 strikeouts, no walks or runs allowed, and allowed at most 3 hits. In 126 years, this outing from Sanchez was the only such Opening Day start.

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But that's not all that Sanchez set record-wise in this matchup. Gelb shared that Sanchez "is the first Phillies pitcher with 10 strikeouts on Opening Day since Curt Schilling in 1997."

Not only was Sanchez good from a historical perspective, but strictly looking at strikeouts, and nothing else, this 10-strikeout performance was the most by a Phillies pitcher in nearly 30 years.

Sanchez is in pursuit of a Cy Young award, and after this strong start to the year, combined with Paul Skenes' failing to get three outs before allowing five runs, Sanchez is in a good spot to take the award in 2026 if he can continue his dominance.

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