Cristopher Sanchez strikes out 12 to lead the Phillies to a 6-4 win over the Giants

Cristopher Sánchez’s changeup is his most effective pitch.

He turns to it 34.8% of the time in a typical outing, and uses it to put away batters 19.4% of the time. In Thursday’s 6-4 win over the San Francisco Giants, his signature offering was lethal.

“It was as good as you’re gonna get,” said manager Rob Thomson.

Aided in part by the late afternoon shadows stretching across the infield, Sánchez used his changeup more than half the time to mow down Giants hitters, who whiffed 22 times on 29 swings.

The shadows make it harder for hitters to recognize off-speed and the spin of the ball, so catcher J.T. Realmuto called more changeups than normal.

“It’s just a deceptive pitch,” Realmuto said. “His hand speed is really good. It spins just like his two seam fastball. So the speed difference between that and his fastball, the location, the hand speed, there’s a lot that makes it an elite pitch.”

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The lefty set a career-high with 12 strikeouts over seven innings to help propel the Phillies to a series split. All but one of those came via his changeup.

“The most strikeouts in a start in my career, and the team got the win, which is the most important thing. For it to be that way, it’s just amazing,” Sánchez said through a team interpreter.

Sánchez said he developed his changeup on his own, just by throwing different things until he found what worked.

He allowed two earned runs on Thursday. The Giants plated one in the first on a Heliot Ramos double and a Matt Chapman single, but Sánchez’s offense picked him up with a five-hit, five-run rally in the bottom of the frame.

Alec Bohm, overdue for some good fortune, capped the outburst with an RBI triple. He launched a fly ball that Giants center fielder Luis Matos nearly corralled on the warning track. But the well-hit ball, which clocked a 104.9 mph exit velocity, popped out of Matos’ glove, allowing Nick Castellanos to score from second and Bohm to sail into third.

“Overall, it was just a really perfect offensive inning,” Thomson said.

Bohm at one point went 0-for-19 during his early-season skid, but has now hit safely in four consecutive games.

Trea Turner had a shaky day on defense. He committed an error in the fifth inning, but immediately made up for it by turning a double play to erase the runner. Turner wasn’t so fortunate in the sixth, after committing a throwing error to allow Ramos to reach first. Chapman then sent an elevated slider over the left field wall for a two-run homer to cut into the Phillies’ lead.

Turner made a solid play in the ninth, grabbing a grounder to his left and spinning into the throw to beat Wilmer Flores at first.

“[Turner’s defense is] much improved,” Thomson said. “I think you throw today out. He just kind of laid back on that one ground ball that got under his glove instead of moving his feet. He rushed the throw.”

After the hot start, the Phillies’ bats fell silent, as they only recorded one more hit — a Kyle Schwarber infield single in the fifth — the rest of the game.

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Thanks to some solid base running, they still tacked on an insurance run on reliever Erik Miller in the eighth inning. Bryce Harper and Schwarber walked and advanced on a passed ball, and Harper scored on a sacrifice fly from Edmundo Sosa.

Pitching the ninth, José Alvarado allowed a first-pitch homer to Tyler Fitzgerald. He gave up a single to bring the tying run to the plate, but induced a groundout to pick up the save.

Castellanos left the game in the seventh inning with left hip flexor tightness after running out a double play. Thomson said he received treatment and “should be good to go” Friday against Miami. Max Kepler slid over to right field and Sosa entered the game to play left.

Brandon Marsh, who was held out of Thursday’s game with a strained right knee, is day-to-day.

“I don’t think it’s going to be an IL situation,” Thomson said.