Anibal Sanchez signed a massive extension with the Tigers in the off-season for $80 million over the next five years. While the contract was rather big for a guy that has only had two seasons of 30 plus starts, Sanchez is looking like he’s worth every penny right now. On Friday versus the Twins, it was looking like Sanchez was about to become the league’s first pitcher on the season to throw a no hitter, but Joe Mauer singled in the ninth to break up the bid.
”He’s nasty, and he had everything working tonight,” Mauer said. ”Obviously, you know exactly what is happening, and you don’t want to get no-hit. I’m just up there trying to put the bat on the ball. He threw me a really good cutter and I was just able to square it up.”
With a handful of one-hit performances already this season, Sanchez can now be added to the list. He finished the game allowing three walks and struck out 12.
”He called me out to the mound. In the middle of a no-hitter,” Tigers catcher Alex Avila said. ”I’ve been in the middle of a no-hitter a few times, in the sixth, seventh inning, I don’t think a pitcher’s ever called me out to the mound. … He just forgot what signs we were using when there’s a guy on second base.”
This was the second really dominant performance by Sanchez over the last month. On April 26th versus the Atlanta Braves, he threw eight innings of shutout ball, allowing only five hits. He also struck out a franchise record 17 batters.
So he’s definitely earning his large salary this season with 80 strikeouts (second in the American League) in 64 innings of work to go with a 2.38 ERA and 1.12 WHIP.
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