Robbed at the Wall, Then a Pinch-Hit Slam: Phillies Win 5-3

The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Los Angeles Angels 5-3 at Angel Stadium on a ninth-inning pinch-hit grand slam by Edmundo Sosa — a swing that came two batters after Angels right fielder Wade Meckler reached over the wall to steal what Bryson Stott thought was a go-ahead three-run homer.

Both things happened in the same inning. That is the entire game, and it is the second time in under a week that the Phillies have turned a ninth inning inside out.

The catch that should have ended it

Stott stood on first base and stared. He had squared up a ball to right field and started running like a man who had just put his team ahead by three. Meckler climbed the wall and brought it back.

“I was like, ‘What the hell?’” Stott told MLB.com. “Then, I was very mad.” He took a second look walking back toward the dugout, then stopped at the top of the steps and looked again to confirm the ball had actually been caught. It had.

Sosa was watching the same thing from the dugout, and reacted differently. “Stott gets robbed on that tremendous play — a big league play — and the energy went on their side at that moment,” he said via interpreter Diego D’Aniello. “The whole stadium was euphoric. But I think I just stayed calm and focused, and I parked myself next to Don right after that, and just trusted that maybe the opportunity was coming for me.”

“Don” is Don Mattingly, Philadelphia’s interim manager. The opportunity arrived two batters after Stott’s at-bat.

Two batters later, four runs

J.T. Realmuto worked a walk to load the bases with two outs. Mattingly called Sosa off the bench to hit for Brandon Marsh against Angels left-hander Sammy Peralta.

The at-bat was short. Sosa took a slider for ball one, then a called strike on a changeup at the knees. Peralta came back with another changeup. Sosa hit it 108.5 mph over the wall in center, out of the reach of Mike Trout.

The roller coaster wasn’t quite finished. Philadelphia learned midgame that closer Jhoan Duran was unavailable with a stomach issue. Jonathan Bowlan handled the bottom of the ninth for his second save.

Why this one is genuinely rare

Ninth-inning grand slams feel common because they are memorable, not because they happen often. MLB.com laid out three separate levels of rarity for what Sosa did:

He is the first Phillie to hit a go-ahead grand slam in the ninth inning since Bryce Harper’s walk-off against the Cubs on Aug. 15, 2019. He is the first to do it with two outs in the ninth since Shane Victorino on April 24, 2009. And he is the first to do it as a pinch-hitter since Ozzie Virgil in 1983.

Sosa also did something similar six days earlier. Against the Cardinals on Sunday, Philadelphia rallied from a 4-0 deficit, with Sosa delivering a two-out, three-run double in the ninth that set up Kyle Schwarber’s walk-off homer two batters later. That is two ninth-inning rescue jobs from the same bench player inside a week.

“He kind of lives for those moments,” Stott said.

Starter Andrew Painter, who was getting his usual post-start treatment, watched Stott get robbed on a clubhouse television, then sprinted up the tunnel to reach the dugout in time. “I mean, everybody loves Sosa, right?” he said. A group of Phillies fans stayed behind at Angel Stadium to chant his name through his postgame interviews.

The standings math that makes this matter

Philadelphia moved to 75-60 with the win. That is three games clear of the Padres (72-63) for the second National League Wild Card spot, and 3 1/2 games ahead of the Diamondbacks (72-64), the first team on the outside. The Phillies remain five games behind Atlanta (80-55) in the NL East.

Put differently: with two outs in the ninth, this was a loss. Every game in a three-team cluster this tight is worth the same amount, which is why MLB.com described the situation plainly — every win right now is magnified. Philadelphia came in 8-2 over its previous 10 games, per a Covers.com preview of the series.

It has been a strange postseason picture across the sport this year — we broke down why a losing team is probably making October in the American League, where the math has gone genuinely sideways. The NL is more conventional but not much calmer: three teams inside four games of two spots, with a month left.

What happens next

The Phillies stay on the west coast to finish the Angels series, with ace Cristopher Sanchez lined up, per the Covers preview. September schedules and the health of a bullpen missing its closer for even a night are the things that decide races like this one.

Two questions carry forward. First, Duran: a one-game stomach issue is nothing, but a wild-card team’s closer is the single easiest thing to lose in September. Second, Sosa’s role. A bench player with two ninth-inning game-changers in a week tends to see more late-game at-bats, and Mattingly has shown he will use him in exactly those spots.

For a sense of how quickly these games swing, our recaps of the Brewers’ ninth-inning rally against the Dodgers and Tarik Skubal’s return to Detroit cover two other late-season nights that turned on a single half-inning.

FAQ

What was the final score of Phillies vs. Angels? Philadelphia 5, Los Angeles Angels 3, decided by Edmundo Sosa’s two-out pinch-hit grand slam in the top of the ninth at Angel Stadium.

Who robbed Bryson Stott of a home run? Angels right fielder Wade Meckler, who went over the wall to catch what would have been a go-ahead three-run homer.

How rare was Sosa’s grand slam? He is the first Phillie since Ozzie Virgil in 1983 to hit a pinch-hit go-ahead grand slam in the ninth inning, per MLB.com.

Where are the Phillies in the playoff race? At 75-60 they hold the second NL Wild Card spot, three games ahead of the Padres and 3 1/2 ahead of the Diamondbacks, and sit five games behind the Braves in the NL East.

Who closed the game instead of Jhoan Duran? Jonathan Bowlan, who recorded his second save after Duran was ruled unavailable midgame with a stomach issue.