PHILADELPHIA — The Angels returned from the break doing exactly what they need to do.
Taylor Ward’s tie-breaking two-run homer in the seventh inning pushed the Angels to a 6-5 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night.
The Angels (48-49) have just 12 games left before the trade deadline. They began the day four games out of a playoff spot, needing a hot streak in the next two weeks to avoid a sell-off.
This one didn’t start very well, with the Angels opting for a bullpen game and winding up in 4-1 hole by the third inning.
The Angels tied it by the fifth. In the seventh, Ward got a hanging sweeper from left-hander Tanner Banks and he hit it over the left field fence, giving the Angels their first lead of the game.
Ward’s team-leading 22nd homer of the season made it 6-4.
Left-hander Reid Detmers worked a perfect seventh. In the eight, right-hander José Fermin gave up Bryce Harper’s second homer of the game, cutting the lead in half.
Closer Kenley Jansen took the mound in the ninth with a one-run lead, which could have been bigger if the Angels had driven in runners from third with one out in the eighth or ninth innings.
Jansen still converted his 17th save of the season – and 464th of his career – to finish a successful bullpen game.
It was unusual for the Angels to choose a bullpen game for the first start out of the break.
They did it to give an extra day of rest to starters Yusei Kikuchi and José Soriano and to avoid having Tyler Anderson or Kyle Hendricks pitch at hitter-friendly Citizens Bank Park. They also have an opening in their rotation since Jack Kochanowicz was sent down, and by pushing the spot for the No. 5 starter from next Tuesday to Wednesday, they have the option of using Victor Mederos for that game. Mederos would not have been in the minors for the required 15 days on Tuesday.
Still, the decision didn’t look good initially.
Right-hander Ryan Zeferjahn got the start and he gave up a home run to Kyle Schwarber in the first inning. Left-hander Jake Eder followed Zeferjahn to the mound, and he gave up a three-run homer to Harper in the third inning, putting the Angels in a 4-1 hole.
The Angels got back two of those runs on Jo Adell’s two-run homer in the fourth, his 20th of the season.
In the fifth, Mike Trout poked a two-out single into right, driving in the tying run. It was the 996th RBI of Trout’s career.
More to come on this story.