Rolling again?: Phillies 5, Angels 2

The Phillies successfully completed a sweep of the Angels in Anaheim thanks to six strong innings from Zack Wheeler and a pair of home runs from J.T. Realmuto and Edmundo Sosa before the offense came alive late. It was the first quality start for Wheeler since July 21st, which was also the last time he finished the sixth inning. He still didn’t look quite like his usual self, but it was a clear step in the right direction as Wheeler tries to battle through his recent struggles.

Wheeler quickly ran into trouble to start his day, as he walked leadoff hitter Wade Meckler on six pitches and then hit Mike Trout to put the first two runners on. Vaughn Grissom followed with a single that loaded the bases with no outs, putting the Phillies starter on the ropes right out of the gate. However, Wheeler was able to recover by snagging a ground ball from Moisés Ballesteros and starting a 1-6-3 double play. One run scored, but Wheeler was able to then strikeout Christian Moore on three pitches to end the inning.

The following few innings were relatively stress-free for Wheeler outside of a leadoff double in the third that he was able to strand there thanks to some help from an incredible diving catch by Derek Hill in center field.

However, the sixth brough another threat. Wheeler, who was approaching 100 pitches, seemed to tire and walked back-to-back hitters with two outs. Pitching coach Caleb Cotham came out for a mound visit with Wheeler at 101 pitches and needing one more out to finish the inning. He fell behind Jose Siri 2-0 before battling back to collect the strikeout on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, a curveball perfectly located at the bottom of the zone.

In total, Wheeler threw 108 pitches and allowed one run on four hits and three walks with six strikeouts. He still had trouble with deep counts but was able to eventually put hitters away and limit damage when it arose. Wheeler generated 15 whiffs total on the day, five of which coming on the eleven total curveballs he threw. Of his 108 pitches, 54 of them were fastballs, and they generated six whiffs and eleven called strikes.

The Phillies offense meanwhile struggled to get much going against Angels starter Yusei Kikuchi. J.T. Realmuto finally broke through in the third, launching his tenth home of the season to center field to tie the game at 1-1.

Edmundo Sosa broke that 1-1 tie in the seventh, hitting his second go-ahead home run of the series to left field to give the Phillies a 2-1 lead. Sosa is now 8-20 (.400) with 12 RBIs over his last seven games played.

The rest of the offense joined the party in the eighth once Kikuchi was out of the game. Kyle Schwarber led off with a walk and Trea Turner followed with a single. Bryce Harper flew out to shallow right for the first out before Alec Bohm worked a four pitch walk to load the bases. Luis Arraez then entered as a pinch hitter to face right hander José Fermin. Arraez fell behind 0-2 before working the count full and eventually lifting the seventh pitch to left field for a sacrifice fly to push the lead to 3-1. Brandon Marsh was the next pinch hitter up, and he worked an eight pitch at-bat that ended with a single to the right side that added another run. Later in the ninth, Harper would double after a Realmuto walk and a Hill single to extend the lead to 5-1.

Those extra runs turned out to be important, as both Jonathan Bowlan and Jhoan Duran were unavailable out of the bullpen. Alex McFarlane tossed a scoreless eighth inning before José Alvarado allowed a pair of singles in the eighth and was lifted for Orion Kerkering with two outs. The latter was able to erase that scoring threat but then Kerkering allowed an RBI double to Trout in the ninth to cut the lead to 5-2 with two outs. However, nothing more would come of the Angels rally, as Kerkering struck out Grissom to end the game and finish his 1.1 innings of work.

The Phillies will head to the dreaded Chase Field in Arizona to begin a three-game set with the Diamondbacks. Aaron Nola (5-10, 5.03) will look to keep his success going on the mound in game one. Arizona has not yet announced a starter as of this writing. First pitch is scheduled for 9:40 PM EDT.