Bohm Took It Personally: Phillies 12 Angels 7

Both teams entered Tuesday night’s game in completely different directions. The Philadelphia Phillies have enjoyed an outstanding homestand winning six out of their last seven.

The Los Angeles Angels on the other hand have had a brutal August, to the point where six players were put on waivers just a couple of hours before the game. Two of them had to play tonight’s contest.

Former Angel Michael Lorenzen, needed a bounce-back outing to get back on the right track after two tough nights against the Nationals and Giants. That’s not how things were trending in the second inning when Luis Rengifo stepped up to the plate.

The Angels would keep the threat going when Logan O’Hoppe, a former Phillies prospect, worked an eleven-pitch walk, fouling off several of Lorenzen’s four-seam fastballs.

After a Mickey Moniak strikeout, Lorenzen would get the double play he needed. Hunter Renfroe, one of the players put on waivers, grounded into a six-four-three double play.

It’s a tradition like no other, the Phillies falling behind early. Another tradition the fans like is when they answer right away. Bryce Harper didn’t want them to wait long.

The third inning is where things get strange, First is a Randal Grichuk leadoff double down the left field line. Next, came a soft dribbler by Shohei Ohtani that Lorenzen probably should’ve held onto.

He took the chance of making a play instead, only for the ball to get past Alec Bohm and Rodolfo Castro into foul territory. Grichuk would score to make it 2-1.

Grichuk was another Angel who was put on waivers at about 5:30.

Lorenzen would work out of the jam with a strikeout to Brandon Drury and a flyout by Mike Moustakas.

Once again, the Phillies trail early, and once again they need a response from a left-handed power bat to tie the game. This time it comes from Kyle Schwarber, who has also turned his season around with a .937 OPS this month.

The lead wouldn’t last long when Rengifo stepped up to the plate again. He got a hanging slider to leadoff the fourth and did not miss it.

This time, Angels starter Tyler Anderson was able to get the shutdown inning he was looking for.

With Harper on third and Bohm on second, Castro worked a tough at-bat that included a timeout and an Anderson balk. Unfortunately, Castro might have been in his own head when he chased a change-up and rolled over to third.

The Angels rewarded Anderson by tacking an extra run. Grichuk once again led off an inning with a double to left field. After a Nolan Schanuel groundout, the Phillies tried to get Ohtani to chase some changeups outside the strike zone.

It sort of worked, he did chase a changeup out of the strike zone, but he ripped it into right field for a base hit. Somehow pulling a changeup that was maybe a foot outside.

In the bottom of the sixth, Castellanos lined a changeup into left but the ball took a bad hop on Grichuk, which allowed Castellanos to go to second. For Angels manager Phil Nevin, there wasn’t even a thought of pitching to Harper, immediately putting four fingers up to put runners on first and second with no one out.

Bohm took this personally and channeled his inner Jean Segura to give the Phillies the lead.

Realmuto then ripped a double into left-center field before Nevin took Anderson out.

With José Soriano coming into the game, Rob Thomson matched with using Bryson Stott for Castro, who hit a Baltimore chopper for an infield single.

After an Edmundo Sosa strikeout, Johan Rojas laid down a hard bunt but the play at the plate was unsuccessful for the Angels after a great slide by Realmuto.

With runners on first and second and two outs, Trea Turner punched a triple down the left-field line to make it 8-4.

With the Phillies now ahead, Thomson went to José Alvarado with Ohtani scheduled to hit third that inning.

Grichuk got the better of him to leadoff the seventh, taking a hanging cutter to left for his third hit of the night.

The bottom of the seventh is when this game really got out of hand. With one out, Bohm ripped a double down the left-field line. Realmuto then punched a single the other way to make it 9-5.

Stott then found a hanging slider he liked, taking it to the second deck in right field to increase the Phillies lead to six.

In the bottom of the eighth, it was Turner’s turn to add on with a solo blast to the deepest part of the ball park in left-center field.

The Angels tacked on a couple of runs in the ninth but it didn’t matter much. The Phillies add win number 74 with five home runs.

Reid Detmers will get the ball tomorrow against Cristopher Sánchez at 1:05. The Phillies look to sweep the Angels in what has already been a dominate homestand.