Dodgers History: Remembering Orel Hershiser's incredible streak after Cristopher Sánchez's run ends

Even Los Angeles Dodgers fans have to admit that the Philadelphia Phillies' Cristopher Sánchez is the best pitcher in baseball right now. Shohei Ohtani might have the lower ERA, but he doesn't have the innings. He doesn't have Sánchez's complete game shutout, his 10.7 K/9 rate, or his scoreless streak that was halted at 50⅔ innings on Wednesday night against the San Diego Padres.

Sánchez received a well-deserved standing ovation from fans at Citizens Bank Park and took a second to smile and acknowledge the moment before facing his next hitter, who lined out to end the inning.

Those 50⅔ innings puts Sánchez at fifth on the all-time scoreless streaks leaderboard, behind Jack Coombs (53 IP, Philadelphia Athletics, 1910), Walter Johnson (55⅔ IP, Washington Nationals, 1913), Don Drysdale (58 IP, Los Angeles Dodgers, 1968), and all-time leader Orel Hershiser (59 IP, Dodgers, 1988).

Dodgers legend Orel Hershiser says he was privately rooting for Phillies' Cristopher Sánchez

Hershiser said that he was privately rooting for Sánchez to break his record. "I was rooting for him because I know how special it is in your life," he said. "He's having a great year. He's got to be the front-runner for the Cy Young. He's got ridiculous stuff. And he's a strikeout pitcher, much more of a strikeout pitcher than I was."

Hershiser's streak began with the sixth inning of the Dodgers' Aug. 30, 1988 game against the Montreal Expos, who scored two off of him in the fifth but were shutout throughout the rest of the game, a 4-2 win for LA.

His next six starts — also his last six of the 1988 regular season — were almost all complete game shutouts, and close ones, at that. Sept. 5 against the Braves ended 3-0, Dodgers. Sept. 10 against the Reds ended 5-0, Dodgers. Another meeting with Atlanta on Sept. 14 and a game against the Astros on Sept. 19 both ended just 1-0, Dodgers. Sept. 23 against the Giants: 3-0 Dodgers.

He pitched 10 innings in his last start of the season against the Padres — all scoreless — but that game ended up going 16 innings, only for the Dodgers to lose, 2-1.

Hershiser insisted that someone will eventually break his record. That's probably true if you do some predictive math, but it's also hard to believe when no one is throwing as many innings as Hershiser did that year (267, a career high) — not even close.

Selfishly, Dodgers fans would prefer that his record stands forever. The end of Sánchez's admirable attempt buys him at least a little more time.

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