BALTIMORE (AP) — Cristopher Sánchez struck out 11 in six innings, helping the Philadelphia Phillies snap their four-game losing streak with a 5-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday night.
Sánchez kept the Orioles off the scoreboard despite five walks. Twice, he retired Baltimore's Leody Taveras with the bases loaded to end an inning.
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Baltimore Orioles pitcher Shane Baz throws during the third inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Philadelphia Phillies' Bryce Harper gestures at second base after hitting a ground rule double during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson fields a ground ball by Philadelphia Phillies' Bryan de la Cruz during the third inning of a baseball game, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cristopher Sanchez throws during the third inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Sánchez (14-4) allowed just two hits after yielding 35 in 21 1/3 innings in July.
Shane Baz (4-10) gave up a run and six hits in 6 1/3 innings. He was pulled after a 15-pitch battle with Bryson Stott that ended with an infield single.
The Phillies blew a two-run lead in the seventh Friday night and entered the middle game of this series with only a one-game lead for the final wild card in the National League. The bullpen held on this time, and the offense added four runs in the eighth.
With left-handed sluggers Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper due up, the Orioles brought in lefty Grant Wolfram to start the inning, but he walked both those hitters with one out. Then Andrew Kittredge came on and immediately threw a wild pitch, forcing Baltimore to bring the infield in.
Alec Bohm and Brandon Marsh hit consecutive RBI singles, and after a walk and a forceout, Justin Crawford hit a bases-loaded single to score two more runs.
By the time the top of the eighth ended with a strikeout, it had gone on so long everyone seemed to forget how many outs there were. Several seconds elapsed before the Baltimore fielders headed back to the dugout.
Sánchez walked three in the fourth before striking out Taveras. Two walks and a single loaded the bases in the sixth before Taveras grounded out.
The Phillies opened the scoring in the fifth on an RBI single by Bryan De La Cruz.
The Orioles, who entered the day 1 1/2 games behind the final wild card in the American League, honored slugger Chris Davis, pitcher Storm Davis and scout Jim Russo as new members of the team's Hall of Fame before the game.
Zack Wheeler (10-2) was set to start the series finale for the Phillies against Kyle Bradish (7-9) on Sunday.
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Baltimore Orioles pitcher Shane Baz throws during the third inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Philadelphia Phillies' Bryce Harper gestures at second base after hitting a ground rule double during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson fields a ground ball by Philadelphia Phillies' Bryan de la Cruz during the third inning of a baseball game, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cristopher Sanchez throws during the third inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
LACANAU, France (AP) — Europe’s wildfire crisis fractured along starkly different fronts Sunday: gale-force winds drove flames deeper into the Athens region and forced fresh evacuations, France guarded a still-burning scar four times the size of Paris against renewed spread, and Spain’s major fires finally stopped advancing.
The center of immediate danger was Greece. Gale-force winds drove flames deeper into western Attica, the administrative region that includes the capital, threatening villages and an industrial district outside the city of Megara as violent gusts prevented firefighting aircraft from collecting water from the sea.
But the easing emergency farther west offered little sense of an ending. France’s largest wildfire remained contained after 224,000 people were forced to flee in what may have been the largest peacetime evacuation in French history. Yet active pockets still burned across 420 square kilometers (162 square miles) of devastated forest.
Thousands remained unable to return home, and nearly 3,000 firefighters were deployed against the Gironde megafire and a second blaze in Provence that had stopped advancing but remained uncontained.
Fires in France and Spain alone have driven roughly a third of a million people from homes and vacation sites, emptied communities at the height of the European summer and stretched firefighters, aircraft and emergency services across simultaneous disasters.
The crisis is unfolding on the world’s fastest-warming continent. Europe has heated at more than twice the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Higher temperatures and prolonged drought leave forests and scrubland drier and more combustible, allowing fires to spread faster and burn more intensely. Human-caused climate change doubled the likelihood of the extreme fire conditions that fueled the French blazes scientists at World Weather Attribution calculated in a rapid analysis Thursday while the fires were still burning.
Greek authorities ordered three more communities evacuated Sunday as flames advanced through western Attica, threatening villages along the Geraneia mountains and an industrial district outside Megara.
Nearly 500 firefighters and 23 aircraft were deployed, but gale-force winds strengthened the fire while crippling the response. The winds drove flames through dry forest and made it impossible for some aircraft to descend to the sea for water.
Smoke rose over the mountains as evacuation orders were issued for the communities of Kandili, Agia Skepi and Toutouli. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was briefed on the operation, with authorities particularly concerned about Porto Germeno, a seaside community on the Gulf of Corinth.
The fire began Friday near Agios Vasileios before sweeping toward Porto Germeno and into the forested mountains west of Athens.
Firefighters evacuated 254 people by sea from Agios Vasileios on Friday and another 12 from Porto Germeno on Saturday — an escape route of last resort in coastal communities where fire and smoke can cut the few roads out.
Wildfire meteorologist Theodore Giannaros estimated Saturday that the blaze had affected 40 to 50 square kilometers (15 to 19 square miles), though authorities had not issued an official figure.
“A pristine forest, a paradise, was surrendered to the hands of the fire,” local farmer Minas Tzortzanis said Saturday. “There are no words to explain what has happened. Destruction. Total destruction.”
The danger carried grim resonance in Greece. In 2018, a wind-driven wildfire trapped residents in the seaside community of Mati, east of Athens, killing 104 people in Europe’s deadliest wildfire this century.
In southwestern France, the Gironde megafire remained contained Sunday but was still burning after scorching 420 square kilometers (162 square miles) of forest in just 10 days.
“The fire is now fixed, which does not mean that the fire is extinguished,” the Gironde prefecture said Sunday, using the French firefighting term for a blaze whose advance has been stopped and whose perimeter has been contained.
The region remained under France’s highest red forest-fire alert. Dry conditions and soaring temperatures around Bordeaux, combined with afternoon winds, created a continued risk of renewed flames.
Additional firefighters from Ukraine, Lithuania and French Polynesia were expected Sunday and Monday to reinforce the operation.
Hundreds of kilometers away, nearly 1,500 firefighters were battling a separate fire in the southeastern Var department that tore through roughly 18 square kilometers (7 square miles) in little more than a day.
Authorities said the fire in the Gros Bessillon hills was stabilized Sunday morning, meaning its perimeter had not expanded overnight. But unlike the Gironde fire, it had not yet been declared contained.
Firefighting aircraft supported crews working to keep the flames away from villages among the vineyards, olive groves and wooded hills of the region known as Green Provence.
About 2,500 people were evacuated as the fire threatened communities.
The blaze was the fourth major fire to strike the central Var since July 19. A separate, smaller fire near Brignoles earlier in the week forced Hollywood actor George Clooney and his family, along with about 700 other residents, to evacuate before it was brought under control.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said France’s wildfires were generally under control but cautioned that conditions remained highly changeable.
He also announced that a national coordinator attached to the prime minister’s office would oversee reconstruction in fire-ravaged areas.
More than 1,170 square kilometers (452 square miles) have burned across France since the beginning of the year.
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Adamson reported from Paris. Michael Varaklas in Megara, Greece contributed to this report
A firefighting helicopter drops water over a smoke-filled forest during a wildfire near Porto Germeno, northwest of Athens, Greece, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Varaklas)
A firefighting helicopter drops water over a smoke-filled forest during a wildfire near Porto Germeno, northwest of Athens, Greece, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Varaklas)
An Airbus helicopter lets a Bambi Bucket full of water go over a firezone, near Blagon, southwestern France, Friday, July 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
A firefighting helicopter releases water over a wildfire near Correns, southeastern France, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (Clement Mahoudeau/Pool Photo via AP)
The light flows through a charred forest near Ares, during wildfires in southwestern France, Thursday, July 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
An aerial view of a homes burned by wildfires in Le Porge, southwestern France, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Nicolas Garriga)
A firefighter walks through a charred forest near Blagon, during wildfires, southwestern France, Friday, July 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
