Welcome back, Angels fans. The unofficial second half of the season started tonight in Philadelphia. For some reason manager Ray Montgomery went with a bullpen game and started Kevin Newman at third base. Pretty blatant moves with a gambling probe going on throughout baseball.
Jorge Soler got the Angels going with an absolute bomb to left center field.
The problem with bullpen games is that you need 6 or more guys to all have good nights and that just doesn’t happen all that often. Tonight Jake Eder had a rough third inning and turned a 1-1 tie into a 4-1 Phillies lead by giving up a 3 run homer to Bryce Harper.
However, in a town known for tough fighters, the Angels kept fighting away. Jo Adell fired back with a 2 run shot in the top of the 4th inning to cut the Philly lead to 3-4.
From Eder to Brock Burke to Sam Bachman, the bullpen held and gave the Angels a chance to come back. Mike Trout had a great at bat and singled in a run in the top of the 5th to tie the game. Then, in the top of the 7th Taylor Ward launched a 2 run shot to give the Angels their first lead of the game.
Detmers then threw a scoreless frame and the Angels looked to be in good shape to win. That view changed to a great chance to win when Logan O’Hoppe hit a one out triple and was poised to score a critical insurance run. He was stranded there by back to back strikeouts by Luis Rengifo and Newman.
Philly fighters are tough and the home squad had plenty of heart in them. Bryce Harper hit his second home run of the night in the bottom of the 8th to cut the lead to 6-5. Jose Fermin was able to settle down after that and set up Kenley Jansen for the save.
It again looked like the Angels would pad the lead, but Trout and Ward struck out to end the top of the 9th and strand Neto at third base. So Jansen entered the game with no margin for error.
After a scare on the first pitch, Kenley did what Kenley does and brought home the win.
