By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
Anibal Sanchez moved a step closer to a return to the Washington Nationals, even if his start for the Rochester Red Wings on Tuesday night was far from perfect.
The veteran right-hander allowed three hits, two walks and two runs in his 2 2/3 innings of work in the first of what is expected to be two rehabilitation starts for the Wings this week.
The Worcester Red Sox scored twice off Sanchez in the first, then added an unearned run off Carson Teel in the third and an insurance run off Matt Brill in the eighth to defeat the still-sliding Red Wings 4-2 at Frontier Field.
The loss was the 14th in the past 19 games for Rochester, which fell to 40-33. The issue on Tuesday: the lack of clutch hitting. The Wings went 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position.
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“It’s kind of been the last week where we just haven’t gotten the big hit we needed to get,” Wings manager Matthew LeCroy said.
Worcester, however, did come up with those big hits. With two outs in the first inning, Ronaldo Hernandez drilled a Sanchez pitch to left center to drive home Connor Wong (who drew a one-out walk) and Ryan Fitzgerald (who singled).
In the eighth, Wong had the clutch two-out double that drove home Pedro Castellanos.
For Sanchez, the start was shorter than planned. In terms of innings, that is. The Nationals hoped he would go four innings, but he reached his pre-set pitch limit of 60-ish when striking out former Wing Jaylin Davis with his 61st pitch for the second out in the third inning.
“The first inning took a lot out of him,” LeCroy said. “But this was his first time out at a higher level (this year) so this was a pretty good challenge for him.”
Sanchez, 38, is attempting to write another comeback story. Having already gone from the discard pile to the penthouse once – rebounding from a trying 2017 season with the Detroit Tigers to helping the Nats win the World Series in 2019 – Sanchez is on his way back to D.C. again.
He didn’t even pitch in 2021, unable to find a team wanting his services. But the Nats signed him this spring and he earned a spot on the opening day roster, only to be sidelined by cervical nerve impingement before he ever pitched in the regular season.
He has been on the injured list since April 11 and began his journey back to the mound in Washington with a rehab start on June 23 for the Nationals Florida Complex League team. He pitched three innings that day, allowing a hit and a run while striking out two.
Aside from a 30-pitch first inning – which began with a strikeout of Devlin Granberg – he accomplished must of what he needed to do.
“I thought the ball was coming out of his hand well and he didn’t have any complications,” LeCroy said. “The biggest thing will be to see how his body feels tomorrow.”
Assuming all is well with his neck, Sanchez is scheduled to pitch again Sunday in the series finale against Worcester and throw 75 to 80 pitches.
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