For about three weeks of real time, Cristopher Sanchez was the most untouchable arm in baseball. The Phillies lefty kept stacking zeros until the number stopped looking like a stat line and started looking like a typo. By the time he took the mound against the Padres, he was already sitting on 47.2 straight scoreless innings — 5th longest in MLB history. That's not a hot streak. That's a chapter in the record book.
Sanchez working through the early innings against San Diego with the streak still alive at 47.2.
Of course, every streak has an expiration date, and Sanchez's came in the 7th. The Padres finally pieced together enough offense to push a run across, tying the game 1-1 and ending the run at a clean 50.2 scoreless frames. The play itself wasn't anything legendary — a ball into the gap, a slide at the plate, an outfielder coming up empty on the dive. But it ended one of the most dominant stretches a starter has put together in this era.
The actual run that broke the streak — Padres baserunner sliding home in the 7th.
Here's where it got weird, and where the Philly Sports Radio Industrial Complex is going to spend the next 48 hours screaming at each other. The same crowd that boos Santa Claus, the same crowd that throws batteries, the same crowd whose entire brand is being the meanest fans on the planet… gave Sanchez a STANDING OVATION when the streak ended. Not when he walked off the mound after a complete game. When he gave up a run. A real, audible, on-your-feet ovation.
The morning-after question Barstool Baseball put to the city: have Philly fans gone soft?
The honest answer is probably no — they're just smart enough to know history when they see it. 50.2 innings without a run is not a thing you boo. That's a tip-the-cap moment whether you're in Philadelphia, San Diego, or anywhere else. But it is genuinely funny that the city famous for being unrelenting decided this was the line. Standing O for an ended streak. The cheesesteaks have officially gone soft-serve.