ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Pinch-hitter Edmundo Sosa hit his first career grand slam with two outs in the ninth inning, and the Philadelphia Phillies roared back for a 5-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night.
Sosa connected just two batters after Wade Meckler reached deep into the right field stands to rob Bryson Stott of a three-run homer.
After J.T. Realmuto drew a walk that loaded the bases and chased shaky closer Ben Joyce (0-2), Sosa crushed a low changeup from Sammy Peralta 404 feet to center, far beyond Mike Trout’s reach.
Alex McFarlane (4-1) pitched the eighth for Philly. Jonathan Bowlan got the ninth instead of closer Jhoan Duran, and he put two Angels on base before he struck out Adam Frazier to finish his second save.
Bryce Harper extended his on-base streak to a career-high 30 games with a bunt single in the fourth for Philadelphia, which improved to 2-2 on its nine-game West Coast trip. The Phillies also moved one game behind the Cubs for the top NL wild-card spot.
Reid Detmers yielded one run and eight hits over six resilient innings, but the AL-worst Angels lost their fifth straight with yet another bullpen implosion.
After Alec Bohm and Justin Crawford reached base without a hit off Joyce, Meckler appeared to save the game for Los Angeles with his spectacular running catch on Stott’s sinking fly, putting his body onto the waist-high wall of the short porch and sticking his glove in among the fans.
Instead, Sosa connected for the Phillies’ first go-ahead grand slam with two outs in the ninth inning since Shane Victorino did it in 2009.
Meckler drove in a run on the first pitch he saw in his return from the concussion injured list during a three-run first inning for the Halos, who managed just three singles — one after the first.
Andrew Painter recovered nicely from that 28-pitch first in which he threw two wild pitches that brought home Trout and Meckler, facing the minimum 15 batters during five hitless innings afterward.
Up next
Phillies All-Star Cristopher Sánchez (16-4, 2.62 ERA) takes the mound Saturday against the Angels’ Ryan Johnson (3-7, 5.75 ERA).
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