Angels Lose Opener To Phillies, 5-3, On Another Blown Save

The Los Angeles Angels have mastered the art of the blown save this season, as Ben Joyce and Sammy Peralta proved again in last night’s 5-3 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies by giving up a two-out grand slam to Edmundo Sosa. 

The play happened just two batters after returning outfielder Wade Meckler robbed Bryson Stott of a three-run homer that would have won the game, but the Angels have an always-say-die spirit when it comes to blowing games. 

The Halos cruised early as they got off to a three-run lead against Phillies starter Andrew Painter in the first inning. Meckler sparked the rally as he returned from the concussion profile with an RBI single to score the first run, and Painter himself got the second run home as Mike Trout scored on a wild pitch. 

Painter then outdid himself by scoring the third run on yet another wild pitch, and Angels starter Reid Detmers made it through the first four innings with a shutout intact. 

But the Phillies broke through in the fifth as a squeeze bunt from Derek Hill scored Alec Bohm after Bohm singled and advanced to third on a base hit and a sacrifice fly. 

Detmers left after six with another good pitching line, although he did have to deal with plenty of traffic as he gave up eight hits along with the lone run while striking out a pair of Phillies hitters. 

That brought on the Angels bullpen, and the storyline gets a lot more familiar from there. Jose Fermin, Ryan Watson and Tyler Saucedo combined to keep the score at 3-1 going into the ninth, but Joyce quickly created a mess by hitting Bohm with a pitch and walking Justin Crawford, with both runners advancing after a wild pitch.  

Stott nearly ended the game there until Meckler intervened, but the Halos were determined to give this one away. Joyce walked J.T. Realmuto to load the bases, and Sammy Peralta came on to surrender the slam to Sosa. 

The return of Meckler and Detmers’ fine mound work were the highlights of this loss, but the rest was just the Angels being the Angels. Joyce got off to a solid start as the new closer when he initially returned to the mound, but he, too, has been perfecting his blown saves as the Angels lost their fifth straight game. 

They’ll attempt to end the futility again tonight with Ryan Johnson going against Cristopher Sanchez in the second game of the series.