Phillies again need late-inning magic to beat the Angels 4-2 in 10 innings
Kyle Schwarber hit an RBI double, followed by Trea Turner's two-run single in the 10th. Though he wasn't eligible for the win, Cristopher Sánchez had his deepest start since July 11.
ANAHEIM, Calif. — It was just 56.6 mph off Trea Turner’s bat.
It had an expected batting average of .150, according to StatCast metrics. The majority of the time, contact like that would have been a routine out.
But the Angels drew their infield in the 10th inning Saturday, looking to stop the bleeding that had started with an RBI double from Kyle Schwarber that broke the tie. And Turner’s soft ground ball found a gap between them.
It allowed two more runs to score, as Justin Crawford and pinch-running Garrett Stubbs both hurtled towards home, helping the Phillies to a 4-2 extra-innings win over the Angels.
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Extras became necessary after Jonathan Bowlan conceded a game-tying homer to Zach Neto in the eighth. The Angels’ shortstop fouled off seven pitches, including four in a row, before teeing off on a sweeper in the bottom half of the zone.
As soon as the ball cleared the left field wall, Phillies starter Cristopher Sánchez was no longer in contention for his 17th win of the season, after one of his strongest starts of the second half. He turned in seven scoreless innings and held the Angels to two hits in his deepest start since completing seven on July 11 against Detroit.
Five of Sánchez’s eight total strikeouts came on his changeup, including one vs. Neto to end the fifth inning. Neto dropped to one knee over the plate trying to make contact with the pitch on the bottom outside corner of the zone, becoming the 200th strikeout victim of the season for Sánchez.
He joined fellow lefty Jesús Luzardo as the second Phillies pitcher to reach the milestone this year. Both Sánchez and Luzardo eclipsed 200 strikeouts in 2025.
The Phillies offense needed every bit of Sánchez’s dominance to keep them in it. Until breaking through in the 10th, they played sloppily, and ran into three outs on the basepaths.
Turner was picked off and caught stealing third in the eighth inning. Later that inning, Bryce Harper tried to take matters into his own hands for an insurance run with some overly aggressive baserunning. He advanced from first all the way to third on a wild pitch from Trevor Martin, just beating the tag. Then, with Alec Bohm at the plate, Harper attempted to steal home on Martin and catcher Travis d’Arnaud.
He was initially called safe by the home plate umpire, but after a lengthy review the call was overturned for the third out.
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To start the 10th inning, ghost-running Brandon Marsh ran into an out at third, attempting to advance on a ground ball to shortstop.
The Phillies also hadn’t capitalized as much as they could have against Angels starter Ryan Johnson. The right-hander issued four walks his first time through the Phillies order, and many of his misses weren’t close to the strike zone.
The Phillies, though, managed one run against him, which came on an RBI single from Marsh in the second. They threatened to break the game open that inning after Crawford worked a key walk to load the bases and flip the lineup back over.
But consecutive pop ups to shallow left from Schwarber and Turner stranded all three.
Jhoan Duran pitched a scoreless ninth to force extras, and after the offense’s three-run outburst in the 10th, interim manager Don Mattingly asked his closer for three more outs. Duran, who had recovered from a stomach bug that had him unavailable Friday night, obliged.
He conceded one run but induced back-to-back flyouts from Neto and Mike Trout to seal it.