DETROIT — It was only right for it to be Cristopher Sánchez. In Philadelphia. At Citizens Bank Park. In a season that included a 50 2/3-inning scoreless streak, the longest in Phillies history and the longest by a left-hander in major-league history. One year after Sánchez was left off the National League All-Star team despite carrying a 2.59 ERA, he will start the Midsummer Classic. NL manager Dave Roberts announced Sunday that Sánchez will get the ball Tuesday night at Citizens Bank Park, giving the Phillies left-hander one of the sport’s biggest stages in his home park. Sánchez has more than earned it. The 29-year-old is 11-4 with a 2.62 ERA, the third lowest by a left-hander in baseball. He has thrown the second-most innings of any pitcher in the majors and, for the second straight year, leads all pitchers in bWAR through 20 starts. He also owns the lowest walks-per-nine rate in the National League. With Milwaukee’s Jacob Misiorowski, the NL Cy Young frontrunner, opting out of the game, Sánchez became the clear-cut choice. He will not be joined by Zack Wheeler, who declined a late invite after being left off the original roster. But he will have left-handed rotation mate Jesús Luzardo with him. Luzardo is a first-time All-Star, and the Phillies have six representatives overall, the second most in franchise history. Now Sánchez gets to do something few pitchers ever have. He is the 14th pitcher to start an All-Star Game in his home park, the first since Clayton Kershaw at Dodger Stadium in 2022 and the first Phillie since Curt Simmons at Shibe Park in 1952, a game shortened by rain. It is the 11th time a Phillie has started a Midsummer Classic on the mound and the first since Roy Halladay did so in Arizona in 2011. There is another Halladay layer, too. Sánchez will square off against American League starter Dylan Cease, the Blue Jays right-hander. Cease is the first Toronto pitcher to start an All-Star Game since Halladay did it in 2009. So, in a way, it will be Doc Day in Philadelphia. The Phillies extended Sánchez at the end of spring training, and he has not skipped a beat. If anything, he has strengthened his case as one of the sport’s most reliable starters. His changeup remains elite. Opponents are hitting .167 against the pitch this season after hitting .170 against it last year. He is getting nearly seven more percentage points of chase with it than he did a year ago, and the growth of his slider has given hitters even more to think about. Then there is the contact. Sánchez continues to force hitters into the ground. His 57.6 percent ground-ball rate ranks in the top two percent of major-league pitchers, another reason he has been able to pitch deep into games and avoid the kind of damage that derails starters. The Cy Young Award might not be fully within reach this season, unless Misiorowski tails off, but Sánchez has been steady, efficient and, for long stretches, dominant. Everything the Phillies could have asked for. Now, after last year’s All-Star snub, Sánchez gets the ball in his own ballpark. He deserves this moment. ...read more read less