Nationals' Game 3 starter Sanchez unheralded but effective

WASHINGTON — Anibal Sanchez is not as highly touted — or as highly paid — as the three members of the Washington Nationals’ starting staff who already have pitched in this World Series.

All he has done this postseason, though, is go 1-0 with a 0.71 ERA in two starts, taking a no-hit bid into the eighth inning of his previous appearance.

The 35-year-old right-hander will start Game 3 on Friday night for Washington against Houston’s Zack Greinke as the Nationals try to grab a 3-0 series lead, a margin that never has been overcome in the Fall Classic.

“Everybody talks about our Big Three” of Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Game 4 starter Patrick Corbin, manager Dave Martinez said Thursday, “but Anibal has pitched unbelievable. … He gives us a chance to win ballgames every outing.”

Greinke, who turned 36 on Monday, has struggled this postseason, going 0-2 with a 6.43 ERA in three appearances. For his career, he is 3-6 with a 4.44 ERA in 14 games, never before pitching in the World Series.

The last time Sanchez pitched, he was about as good as can be, allowing one hit — to the 27th, and last, batter he faced — and one walk while helping Washington beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 2-0, in Game 1 of the NL Championship Series.

That was Oct. 11, meaning Sanchez will have had 13 days of “rest” between starts, much more than the four or five days he is used to.

“I’ve been throwing a baseball since February. Probably January. So right now, it’s not something that’s going to affect you,” said Sanchez, who went 10 days between his final regular-season appearance and his outing in Game 3 of the NL Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. “So for me, I’m fine with the rest.”

That sort of extended break doesn’t seem to have been a problem for Sanchez in the past.

Over his career, Sanchez is 19-9 with a 3.37 ERA, 8.2 strikeouts per nine innings and a .237 opponent batting average in the 54 starts when he has had six or more days off. All of those numbers are better than what he has produced after four or five days of rest.

In 2019, that pattern continued, including a .186 opponent average in the five starts when he had six or more days between starts, compared with .214 after five days, and .278 after four.

His matchup against Greinke, who was 8-1 in 10 regular-season starts for Houston after arriving from the Arizona Diamondbacks in a July 31 trade, comes after the Nationals got the better of the higher-profile starter showdowns in this World Series. Max Scherzer won Game 1 against Gerrit Cole — when Patrick Corbin, usually a starter, reprised his relief role for Washington — and Stephen Strasburg won Game 2 against Justin Verlander.

Now it’s Sanchez’s turn.

“Right now, I’m anxious to get on the field. But at the moment the game starts, it’s another thing,” Sanchez said Thursday, when a handful of his teammates participated in an informal workout at Nationals Park. “You focus on what you have to do, what pitch you have to execute, what hitter you’re going to face.”