Brandon Drury’s homer in 9th leads Angels to rollercoaster win
PHILADELPHIA — The Angels ended a month of frustration on a positive note.
Brandon Drury’s ninth-inning two-run home run lifted the Angels to a rollercoaster 10-8 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday afternoon, a day after the front office signaled a shift toward 2024 by reportedly placing six veterans on waivers.
“It’s been tough for sure,” Drury said. “We haven’t been playing good baseball for a while. And all that stuff about the waivers and all that. It’s been tough for us. But there’s no other option but to keep playing, so we’re gonna keep going.”
The Angels aren’t sure who will be on their roster when they return from Thursday’s off day to open September in Oakland. Anyone who is claimed on waivers will be wearing a different uniform by Friday. The dramatic roster shakeup is an effort to save up to $7 million in salary after a disastrous 8-19 record in August.
A little of everything has gone wrong this month, and the biggest problem on Wednesday was the pitching staff’s inability to hold a lead. The Angels blew three leads, two of them vanishing on homers that electrified the raucous crowd.
Relievers Reynaldo López and Matt Moore – two of the players on waivers – gave up go-ahead homers in the sixth and eighth innings, respectively.
Hunter Renfroe – also on waivers – responded to Trea Turner’s three-run homer against López with a go-ahead two-run single in the eighth. He drove in four runs, including a two-run homer.
“It’s a place where he struggled a little bit,” Manager Phil Nevin said of Renfroe’s performance with runners in scoring position, “but that was a big thing for us. We picked up the back end of our ’pen today.”
After Moore gave up a two-run homer to Bryce Harper in the bottom of the inning, the Angels had one comeback left.
Pinch-hitter Mike Moustakas led off by striking out, but he reached first on a wild pitch. Rookie Nolan Schanuel singled, sending pinch-runner Trey Cabbage to third. Luis Rengifo drove him in with a fly ball, tying the score.
An out later, Drury blasted his 19th homer of the season, just over the fence in right-center.
“I was just trying to be on time for the fastball,” Drury said. “Got a pitch to hit out over (the plate) and didn’t miss it.”
Although the standings would indicate that the Phillies had more reason to fight for a victory than the Angels did, Nevin said you wouldn’t have known it by the way his players responded.
“The (games) are all gonna be important for us,” Nevin said. “If you’d been in our dugout, you would have realized that. It was pretty cool being in there today.”
The players spilled on to the field for handshakes and high-fives after closer Carlos Estévez pitched a perfect ninth to record his 29th save.
“Tough series,” starting pitcher Reid Detmers said. “But going out with the W is always a good sign. We just hope we can keep it going. And we’re gonna try our hearts out. Gotta pitch better a little bit. Obviously, the players have got to do their thing. Today it all came together.”
Detmers gave up two runs in four innings before coming out of the game after 84 pitches.
He allowed four hits and three walks, escaping more serious trouble because the Angels turned two double plays behind him.
“They took a lot of good pitches that I thought I was gonna get swings and misses on,” Detmers said. “They just stuck to their game plan. I felt good. Stuff felt good. Command was a little iffy. Got myself into a lot of jams but I was able to work out of them. Pitch count got up. That was pretty much it.”