The Phillies late Friday night notched a key 5-3 victory in their playoff push, and it came courtesy of a record-tying ninth-inning meltdown by the Angels.
The host Angels held a 3-1 lead going into the ninth, and when Luis Arraez grounded out to begin the top half of the frame, it pushed the Angels' chances of prevailing all the way up to 96.5%. Then, however, the familiar unraveling began.
Ben Joyce put a runner on when he plunked Alec Bohm with a 3-1 fastball. Justin Crawford then walked, which brought Bryson Stott to the plate. Stott yanked a full-count fastball from Joyce to deep right for what seemed like a go-ahead homer for the visiting Phils. And according to Statcast, it would've been a homer in 26 of 30 MLB parks. Halos right fielder Wade Meckler, though, had designs on thievery:
Meckler's highlight snare was good for the second out of the inning, and even with the potential tying run soon to be at the plate, again the Angels still had a 92.8% chance of hanging on and thus not squandering the strong six innings of starter Reid Detmers.
Next came a wild pitch and then a walk to J.T. Realmuto to load the bases. At that point, Angels manager Kurt Suzuki went to lefty Sammy Peralta in the hopes of neutralizing Brandon Marsh. Phils skipper Don Mattingly, however, countered with a pinch-hitter, the right-handed-hitting utility man Edmundo Sosa. With a 1-1 count, Sosa found a changeup at the bottom of the zone and sent it 404 feet to center:
That clutch, game-turning moment merits the alternative-view treatment:
Yes, he knew it. That one swing flipped the game. The Angels still had an 85.6% chance of winning the game when Sosa stepped to the plate. By the time the ball landed, the Phillies had a 91.4% chance of prevailing, which they did after the save from Jonathan Bowlan. Sosa isn't far removed from notching a clutch double in the Phillies' recent stunner of a ninth-inning comeback against the Cardinals, but the grand slam in this one puts him on another level of clutchitude.
As for the Angels, the blown ninth-inning lead put them in unenviable company. According to CBS Sports Research, the 2026 Angels are now tied with the 2012 Brewers and 1978 Mets for the most losses after entering the ninth inning with a lead: 11. That's the most on record since at least 1900.
While the Angels are once again irrelevant in the standings, the 75-60 Phillies enter Saturday's slate in second wild card position in the National League and just a game behind the Cubs for top wild card position. In the NL East, they trail the Cubs by five games. Every win matters for a club in such a position, and that adds another layer to Friday's stunner of a comeback.
