Shohei Ohtani had three hits and knocked in two runs for an Angels team that reportedly put at least six players on waivers and seemingly surrendered any shot at salvaging the season.
Kyle Schwarber hit his 37th homer of the season, Bryson Stott added a two-run homer and Trea Turner hit a solo shot for the Phillies, who hold the top spot in the NL wild-card standings. Philadelphia matched a season high with five home runs.
Luis Rengifo homered twice and Randal Grichuk went deep for Los Angeles. The Angels, their playoff chances all but gone, have lost seven of nine.
On a humid night in Philadelphia, the ball carried for both teams, though the long ball has been the theme of the month for the Phillies. The five homers pushed Philadelphia’s total for August to a whopping 57.
Bohm crushed one of the biggest ones yet.
Angels starter Tyler Anderson (5-6) failed to hold a 4-2 lead against Philly’s power hitters in the sixth. With a runner on second and no outs, Anderson never let Harper swing the bat in a lefty vs. lefty matchup. Bohm buried the second pitch into the left field seats for his 15th homer of the year and a 5-4 lead.
Turner tacked on a two-run triple that capped a six-run sixth. Stott’s 14th homer of the year in the seventh made it 11-5.
The Phillies swept a three-game weekend series against St. Louis and can complete a three-game sweep of the Angels on Wednesday.
Odds are, the Phillies might see yet another Harper milestone.
One fan wore a Harper jersey wearing a vertical 300 for the numbers and others held signs saying they were at Citizens Bank Park to see history. Harper pushed 300 to the brink when he smashed a homer off the second-level facade. He’ll become the 158th player in MLB history with 300 homers and would — at least for one at-bat — join Chuck Klein as players with 300 on the dot.
Michael Lorenzen (8-8) struck out five and allowed three earned runs in six innings to win for the first time since his Aug. 9 no-hitter against Washington.
Lorenzen escaped a jam in the fifth when Ohtani was thrown out trying to steal third base to end the inning.