'Who was the difficult hitter?' Question → '5 innings of 8K good pitching' See how Cy Young escaped the crisis! After trying hard to look away, he said, "I only believed in my ball"

*This content was translated by AI.

As expected, the dignity of "Second place in Cy Young" was different. Dominican Republic ace Christopher Sanchez (30, Philadelphia Phillies) led the team to victory by completely quelling the Korean batting line. His overwhelming confidence was revealed in interviews as well as his skills.

Sanchez started the 2026 World Baseball Classic quarterfinals against South Korea at Rondipo Park in Miami, Florida on the morning of the 14th (Korea time) and showed a fantastic pitch of just two hits and eight strikeouts in five innings. Even with the limit on the number of pitches within 80 pitches, the return of Korean batters with aggressive pitches throwing only 63 pitches showed the dignity of being second in the National League Cy Young Award in the 2025 season.

In particular, Sanchez showed off his excellent stability, with 43 strikes out of 63 balls thrown on the day. Sanchez's maximum speed on the day was 96.6 miles per hour (about 155 kilometers) when he threw against Lee Jung-hoo (28, San Francisco Giants) in the top of the first inning. Moreover, the ball movement was dirty, so it was classified as a sinker, not a fastball.

Sanchez, who entered the official press conference after the game, was relaxed all the time. What drew the most attention was the evaluation of Korean batters. Asked jokingly if he had been familiar with Korean hitters and played in the game, Sanchez said, "No. I didn't go in knowing it properly," he said with a smile.

Sanchez skillfully avoided an immediate answer to the key question, "Who was the most demanding player among Korean hitters?" "I'm not sure who the most difficult hitter is," he said. "It's hard to pick just one person," he said after trying to turn a blind eye to the question, adding, "My mindset entering the game was only to play aggressive games with a sinker. I only focused on executing my game plan with sinkers and breaking balls, and it worked," he replied. He emphasized that confidence in his pitches was the factor of victory rather than the relative analysis.

Sanchez is a left-hander who started all 32 games for Philadelphia in the 2025 season and has an outstanding record of 13 wins, 5 losses and a 2.50 ERA. He is the second-ranked player in the National League Cy Young Award voting after U.S. national pitcher Paul Skins (Pittsburgh Pirates). In the match against Nicaragua on the 7th, he showed a difficulty of six hits and three runs in one ⅓, but this day was completely different. Ahead of the last 2025 season, he is a decent career pitcher who is guaranteed a total of $22.5 million (about 33.7 billion won) over a four-year contract period with Philadelphia.

Since then, Sanchez has also spoken directly about "rumors that he will drop out of the national team and return to Philadelphia, his team." He said, "I'm not going anywhere. "I will stay here and be with the team," he said, showing strong affection for the national team, saying, "It is always special to wear a Dominican uniform."

Sanchez even left a heavy message to young fans in his hometown of La Romana, saying, "Education is more important than baseball." Baseball fans around the world are paying attention to whether he will be able to raise Dominica to the top of the tournament after tying the Korean batters tightly with eight strikeouts and no runs on the mound.

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*This content was translated by AI.