Thursday, May 28

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Welcome to The Pregame Lineup, a weekday newsletter that gets you up to speed on everything you need to know for today’s games, while catching you up on fun and interesting stories you might have missed. Today’s edition is brought to you by David Adler. 

Cristopher Sánchez is on another level. We’re witnessing one of the greatest pitching runs of all time — and he’s still going! 

A 44 2/3-inning scoreless streak is insane. Not allowing a run for a month is insane. Breaking Grover Cleveland Alexander’s 115-year-old Phillies record is insane. But that’s where we’re at with the Phillies ace and 2026 Cy Young favorite. 

Let’s go over to Phillies reporter Paul Casella, who explains five ways Sánchez is making history on the mound. 

1) Climbing the all-time leaderboard 

Sánchez now has the seventh-longest scoreless-inning streak within a single season in the Live Ball Era (since 1920) — and the second longest by a lefty: 

• Orel Hershiser: 59 IP (1988)
• Don Drysdale: 58 IP (1968)
• Bob Gibson: 47 IP (1968)
• Zack Greinke: 45 2/3 IP (2015)
• Carl Hubbell: 45 1/3 IP (1933) (only other LHP)
• Sal Maglie: 45 IP (1950)
• Cristopher Sánchez: 44 2/3 IP (active)

2) A full scoreless month 

Sánchez made five starts in May, pitched 39 innings and allowed zero runs. He and Hershiser are the only true starters in MLB history to record a full scoreless month — Hershiser pitched an incredible 55 scoreless innings in September 1988 during his MLB-record scoreless run.

3) Five straight scoreless starts 

Sánchez has made five consecutive scoreless starts of at least seven innings. He’s only the sixth pitcher in the Modern Era (since 1900) to do so, joining Hershiser (six straight in 1988), Don Drysdale (six in 1968), Brandon Webb (five in 2007), Bob Gibson (five in 1968) and Doc White (five in 1904).

4) 45 strikeouts, zero runs

In his five scoreless May starts, Sánchez also racked up 45 K’s. Even Hershiser “only” struck out 34 in September 1988. And the only other pitcher on record with at least 45 strikeouts and zero runs allowed over any span of five starts was Chris Sale with the 2018 Red Sox.

5) Best start to a season in Phils history?

Sánchez leads the Majors with a 1.47 ERA this season. (Shohei Ohtani’s 0.82 ERA doesn’t qualify because he hasn’t pitched enough innings.) He’s also second with 95 strikeouts, behind only fellow Cy Young contender Jacob Misiorowski. That might be the best season-opening stretch by any Phillies pitcher ever. The only others with a sub-1.50 ERA and 95-plus K’s over any 12-game span: co-ace Zack Wheeler (2025) and Hall of Famer Steve Carlton (1980). 

 

GAME OF THE NIGHT: SKENES VS. THE CUBS

Paul Skenes has looked shockingly human over his last two starts, allowing nine runs in 10 innings in losses to the Phillies and Blue Jays. 

But here’s the good news entering tonight’s series finale against the rival Cubs (6:40 p.m. ET, MLB.TV): When night falls, Skenes goes back to being a superhero. 

Skenes has a weird thing going this season. He’s gotten knocked around in day games … but he’s been unhittable in night games:

• Day games: 6 starts, 1-4, 6.57 ERA
• Night games: 5 starts, 5-0, 0.51 ERA

So good luck to the Cubs, even though they did just snap their 10-game losing streakyesterday.  

A Q&A WITH MR. OCTOBER

MLB.com’s Bill Ladson caught up with Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson, who turned 80 years old on May 18. Here’s a selection of the interview. Read the whole Q&A here >> 

MLB.com: You are best known with the Yankees because of your World Series heroics. What do you think of the current team?

Jackson: I’m trying to pay attention to how well-rounded we are as a team, not depending on one pitcher or player. The Yankees probably have the best player in the game [Aaron Judge]. Everybody needs help. You can’t do it alone. All those home runs I hit in the World Series, there were guys on base. That’s important.

MLB.com: You worked for the Yankees when they drafted Aaron Judge. Did you think he would be this good?

Jackson: No. You can never predict a guy is going to hit 50 homers four or five times in his career. I remember when it was his [first full] year in the big leagues. I was in the meetings when they asked my take on him in the big leagues. I said, “I think he is going to hit .250. He might hit 40 homers, but he is going to hit 30 homers. He is going to hit 15 balls on the nose that will go over the fence and … he is going to hit fly balls that aren’t hit well that are going to be homers. He is going to strike out 200 times. If he can deal with it and go through the pain of becoming the great player, he is going to be great.”

MLB.com: If you had to do it over again as a player, what would you do differently?

Jackson: I probably would have focused on less strikeouts. My production would have been higher. It would have been something like, “Reggie, when you put the ball in play, you hit .357.” I didn’t think about stuff like that because I didn’t put it in play. That’s what it is. I would have focused on putting the ball in play a little bit more. Maybe concentrate on winning a Gold Glove. I got tagged as a bad outfielder by Billy Martin and it never left. No matter what I did, I was tagged. 

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Another ridiculous two-way Ohtani game, a Cy Young winner’s dominant return, and star lefty sluggers highlight the action around the Majors. 

• By the stat line, you could argue that last night was one of Shohei Ohtani’s best games: a leadoff home run as a hitter AND six no-hit innings as a pitcher. Ohtani was already the only pitcher in MLB history to hit a leadoff home run (he’s now done it three times), and now he’s also one of the few to hit a homer in a game while also carrying a no-hit bid through six innings (Jake Arrieta was the last on Sept. 27, 2015). Oh, and if you asked him, he’d say he didn’t even have his best stuff!

• As great as Gerrit Cole was in his first game back for the Yankees, he was even better in his second. After throwing six scoreless innings with two strikeouts in his 2026 debut against the Rays, Cole upped that to 6 2/3 scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts yesterday against the Royals. That’s vintage stuff from the 2023 Cy Young winner. The Yankees ace picked up his first win since Game 4 of the 2024 ALDS … which was also against the Royals.

• Juan Soto is putting the Mets offense on his back. He has eight home runs in his last dozen games, which is the most in the Majors over that time. Soto is now batting .301 on the season, and his .986 OPS is the best in the National League among hitters with at least 150 plate appearances.

• In the American League home run race, co-leaders Munetaka Murakami and Yordan Alvarez both reached the 20-homer mark yesterday. Murakami, Jim Thome (20 in 2006) and Frank Thomas (21 in 1994) are the only White Sox players to hit 20 homers through the team’s first 55 games of a season. Alvarez, meanwhile, has back-to-back multi-homer games and is leading the AL batting race with a .312 average. He and the Astros face the Rangers in the Lone Star Series finale tonight (8:05 p.m. ET, MLB.TV). 

LEARN THE SOTO SHUFFLE AT MLB CLUBHOUSE

For all the kids out there who want to be like Juan Soto — they can learn the superstar’s signature move over at MLB Clubhouse, MLB’s YouTube channel for kids.

The latest episode of the animated series “The Doug Out!” features Soto and his trademark “Soto Shuffle,” while explaining why patience is important at the plate … and in life.

Check out the full episode here >> 

 

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