The month of April ended in satisfyingly familiar fashion for the Philadelphia Phillies — and in an agonizingly catastrophic condition for the Los Angeles Angels.
The Phillies and Angels wrestle to earn a series win Wednesday afternoon when the teams meet in Anaheim, Calif., in the finale of a three-game set.
Right-hander Zack Wheeler (2-3, 1.93 ERA) is slated to start for the Phillies against Angels left-hander Patrick Sandoval (1-4, 6.33).
Nick Castellanos and Johan Rojas hit the game-tying and go-ahead homers in the ninth inning Tuesday night for the Phillies, who squandered a three-run first-inning lead before coming back to earn a 7-5 win.
Bryson Stott doubled prior to Rojas’ homer for the Phillies, who improved to 20-11. Philadelphia set a franchise record with 19 wins in April. The 2011 team won 18 games in April 2011 on its way to a 102-win season.
But as the ninth inning began Tuesday, the Phillies appeared in danger of suffering a second straight discouraging defeat. Philadelphia also scored three times in the first inning Monday, when the Angels came back to record a 6-5 victory.
“I thought that was one of the better wins of the year, really, just because of what happened (Monday) night where we got out to a 3-0 lead, they came back and we didn’t recover,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “(Tuesday night), we recovered and overcame it. Guys kept fighting.”
The Angels’ day began in disappointing fashion when the team announced superstar Mike Trout would be sidelined indefinitely due to torn meniscus in his left knee that will require surgery. Trout, who won three American League Most Valuable Player awards and placed in the top five six other times from 2012 through 2020, has played just 266 out of a possible 516 games since the start of 2021.
“We’re going to miss Mike,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “I think we all know what he means to this organization. But the thing about baseball — there’s a game on the schedule. You have to play it. You have to put nine guys on the field. So we’re going to put nine guys on the field. Some guys are going to get the opportunity that they’ve been craving, and we’ll see what they can do with it.”
Opportunity came hours later when the Angels were three outs away from a much-needed morale boost, but their bullpen suffered a familiar meltdown. Closer Carlos Estevez, who entered with two outs in the eighth and struck out J.T. Realmuto to preserve a 5-4 lead, whiffed Brandon Marsh to open the ninth before giving up the hits to Castellanos, Stott and Rojas in a five-pitch span.
Angels relievers have a 5.61 ERA, the worst in the majors.
“We put ourselves in position to win that ballgame,” Washington said. “We just couldn’t put it away.”
Wheeler earned the win last Thursday, when he allowed one hit over six scoreless innings as the Phillies beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-0. It was the second straight start in which Wheeler allowed one hit in a scoreless outing, following an April 20 gem against the Chicago White Sox.
Wheeler is 2-0 with a 3.27 ERA in two career starts against the Angels.
Sandoval took the loss last Friday after giving up four runs (three earned) over 5 2/3 innings as the Angels fell to the Minnesota Twins, 5-3. He didn’t factor into the decision in his lone start against the Phillies on June 5, 2022, when Sandoval surrendered two runs over 4 2/3 innings in 9-7 loss.
