Thursday, October 1, 2026
79 ° Clear
79 ° Clear
The Philadelphia Phillies (75-60) are intent on ensuring fans stick around for all 27 outs this season after another two-out, ninth-inning rally stole a victory from an MLB opponent in less than a week.
Phillies batters loaded the bases with two outs in the final frame before Edmundo Sosa crushed a 404-foot grand slam to center field to flip the scoreboard in favor of the road squad, 5-3, to stun the Los Angeles Angels (52-83) on Friday night.
It is the second time this week the Phillies have rallied to win with one out remaining in regulation after scoring four ninth-inning runs to defeat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-4, at Citizens Bank Park earlier this week.
While the game finished in celebratory handshakes, rookie Andrew Painter struggled early before settling into the contest. The rookie walked the opening hitter he faced before a single from Mike Trout put a run into scoring position quickly. Wade Meckler (remember that name for later) singled to center field to score Zach Neto from second base to give Los Angeles a 1-0 lead.
Painter walked the five-hole hitter, Moises Ballesteros, to load the bases and put additional pressure on the young Phillies starter. He cracked slightly under exertion, throwing a wild pitch past J.T. Realmuto and allowing Trout to score to double the lead to 2-0. Two batters later, Painter tossed another pitch past his catcher to provide another free run to the home squad at 3-0. Thankfully, that would be the extent of the damage in the opening inning.
The 23-year-old was lights out over the next five innings, allowing only two hits, walking three, and striking out six Angels hitters across six total innings. He was charged with earned runs for all three L.A. players who crossed the plate. Once Painter settled into the game in the second inning, he retired the next 13 hitters he faced until a walk to Meckler (nope… not yet) in the bottom of the sixth broke that string of success.
Meanwhile, Phillies hitters generated eight hits off Angels starter Reid Detmers, but he only allowed one run over his six innings of work. Alec Bohm and Bryan De La Cruz singled to open the fifth inning, but Bryson Stott sacrificed Bohm to third base. J.T. Realmuto hit a shallow fly ball to Meckler (still nope) that was not deep enough to score the Phillies runner standing 90 feet away from home plate. Derek Hill surprised Los Angeles with a quick bunt down the first base line, scoring Bohm to trim the deficit to 4-1.
Kyle Schwarber singled to right field, but De La Cruz tried to score from second base before a frozen rope from Josh Lowe had the Phillies outfielder dead-to-rights four steps before reaching home plate to end the inning still trailing by three runs.
Without being hyperbolic, finish reading this article and then go watch the highlights of the ninth inning last night (if you can). The final frame had a little bit of everything, from clutch at-bats to important walks, home run robberies to a bases-loaded celebration trot in front of a stunned fanbase, unfortunately used to this type of outcome. It really was a pretty special inning to watch unfold into the morning hours on Saturday back on the East Coast.
Bohm was hit by a pitch while Justin Crawford put together a walk to bring the game-winning run to the plate in Bryson Stott. The Phillies third baseman crushed a ball about three feet above the low wall in the right-field corner. Meckler (there it is) chased the ball down, leaped above the wall, and secured the baseball as he collided with and spun off the wall in one motion to get the ball back into the cutoff man before celebrating with Trout in center field on a spectacular game-saving catch….
Well, it should have been a game-saving catch, but it was only the 26th of the required 27 outs needed to close down a non-weather-shortened baseball win.
A wild pitch moved Bohm to third base and Crawford to second, respectively, before Realmuto finished off the at-bat by drawing a walk to fill the bases in a last attempt at avoiding another loss on this West Coast road swing. Don Mattingly turned to Edmundo Sosa to pinch-hit for Brandon Marsh, resulting in a game-changing swing to put the Phillies ahead 5-3 in front of a shocked Los Angeles crowd that was basically ready to celebrate a victory.
With Jhoan Duran unavailable out of the bullpen, Jonathan Bowlan closed out the ballgame, but it didn’t come without some early-morning stress back in Philadelphia.
He hit the first batter before a fielder’s choice recorded the first out of the inning. A routine ground ball to second base was booted by Luis Arreaz to bring the game-winning run to the plate for the Angels. Bowlan secured his second save of the season by striking out the final two hitters to secure another incredible comeback victory this season in a 5-3 final at Angels Stadium to kickstart this three-game road trip.
Phillies after Dark returns in full force on Saturday night with a 10:07 p.m. start time back on Broad Street.
Cristopher Sanchez takes the hill looking for a league-leading 17th win of the 2026 season to strengthen a potential Cy Young candidacy against Milwaukee’s Jacob Misiorowski and/or Atlanta’s Chris Sale over the final month of the season.
Sanchez will be opposed by Angels right-hander Ryan Johnson, who enters with a 3-7 record and a 5.75 earned run average in Los Angeles this season.
