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Phillies survive sloppy night on the bases, beat Angels in extra innings
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- Phillies survive sloppy night on the bases, beat Angels in extra innings
Phillies survive sloppy night on the bases, beat Angels in extra innings originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
ANAHEIM, Calif. – The Phillies and Los Angeles Angels don't play each often and maybe that's a good thing.
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You know, for the ol' blood pressure.
For the second night in a row Saturday, the two teams played a wild one at Anaheim Stadium.
The Phillies pulled out a 4-2 victory when they rallied for three runs in the top of the 10th inning – Kyle Schwarber doubled home a run and Trea Turner singled home two of them — but it really didn't have to be this difficult.
The Phillies got seven shutout innings from Cristopher Sanchez and took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the eighth. With two outs, Angels' leadoff man Zach Neto capped a grueling 12-pitch at-bat against Jonathan Bowlan with a game-tying home run to left. Neto fouled off seven pitches during the at-bat, including four in a row before connecting for the homer.
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Manager Don Mattingly pulled Sanchez at 91 pitches. Any chance Sanchez had of facing the bottom of the Angels' order in the eighth disappeared after two lengthy replay reviews in the top of the inning. The Phillies came out on the wrong end of both of them as Turner and Bryce Harper ran into outs at third base and home plate, respectively. Turner was caught off second by pitcher Trevor Martin and gunned down at third base. Harper tried to steal home on Martin. He was initially ruled safe, but the call was overturned for the third out.
Mattingly wasn't happy with either call.
"I don't mind Trea's because we're trying to get to third … trying to be aggressive," he said. "I thought he was safe there anyway. Harp's is not necessarily a bad play. They called him safe. I don't know how they know his hand doesn't get in there. How is that clear and convincing?"
Before rallying in the top of the 10th, the Phils ran into a third out on the bases when Brandon Marsh was thrown out at third trying to advance from second on a ground ball to short.
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Those outs on the bases fit the theme of the night – wasted chances. The Phillies went 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position over the first nine innings. They managed just one run in the first two innings despite Angels' starter Ryan Johnson allowing six base runners on two hits and four walks over that span. They pushed across a run in the second on a hit by Marsh before leaving the bases loaded.
But all's well that ends well.
The Phillies have won 12 of their last 14 and three in a row. They are a season-best 16 games over .500 and firmly in control of a wild-card playoff spot with 26 games to play.
"I feel like we're definitely playing a lot better baseball," Turner said. "Obviously, we can still learn from some things. Like tonight, I thought we made some mistakes as a team. And we know that and we want to play better as a team. But it's nice winning those games and learning from it rather than losing them. I feel like that's a little bit of a difference from now and the beginning of the year when it felt like we couldn't overcome some of those mistakes. We're playing better baseball. The pitching is keeping us in games. The offense has been great putting traffic out there. There's still room for improvement, but it still feels like we're playing better baseball."
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Sanchez allowed just two hits and a walk over his seven innings. He struck out eight as he reached 200 for the second straight season. He has 202, one less than team leader Jesus Luzardo.
Sanchez was in line for his majors-leading 17th win before Neto tied the game. He remains stuck at 16. He will have five more starts to become the Phillies' first 20-game winner since Roy Halladay in 2010.
Jhoan Duran ended up with the win Saturday night. He allowed the placed runner to score in the bottom of the 10th, but eventually closed the door after the Phils rallied for three in the top of the inning. That inning included some good base running. After Marsh's gaffe, J.T. Realmuto went first-to-third on a hit by rookie Justin Crawford, who continues to make his presence felt late in games. Schwarber then dropped an RBI double in front of Trout, who had been playing deep in center, and Turner squibbed a ball to right through a drawn-in infield for two more runs.
For the struggling Turner, who earlier in the game pinned left fielder Jose Siri against the wall, the softly hit two-run single was a keeper.
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"It was so bad, but it feels so much better," he said. "I thought I saw the ball well. I thought I was going to hit it pretty hard then, obviously, I capped it, but it worked out. You have to find a way, any way. No matter how bad it looks or how good it looks, you try to put runs on the board."
The Phillies, who rallied to win the first game of the series on the strength of Edmundo Sosa's ninth-inning grand slam Friday night, will look for a sweep Sunday afternoon behind Zack Wheeler. The right-hander has struggled mightily recently. He gave up four home runs and walked five in a loss Monday night at Seattle. Excluding a rain-shortened outing Aug. 2 in Baltimore, he has a 9.27 ERA in his last five full starts.
