Kyle Schwarber belted a go-ahead grand slam in the sixth inning to vault the Philadelphia Phillies to a 9-5 home win over the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday.
Bryce Harper also homered for Philadelphia after hitting two bombs in Friday’s 6-5 defeat in the series opener. Nick Castellanos, Trea Turner and Johan Rojas drove in the other runs for the Phillies.
Taylor Ward, Jo Adell and Yoan Moncada hit home runs for the Angels. Yusei Kikuchi allowed two runs and five hits over five innings before the Los Angeles bullpen scuffled to the finish line.
The key inning for Philadelphia was a five-run sixth against relievers Sam Bachman and Jose Fermin.
Bachman began by loading the bases on a hit, a hit batter and a walk before giving way to Fermin, who allowed a sacrifice fly by Rojas that trimmed the Phillies’ deficit to 4-3. Turner then drew a walk before Schwarber swatted a 1-1 fastball into the seats in right-center field.
Ward’s RBI double in the seventh helped the Angels get within 7-5, but Harper alleviated any pressure with a two-run blast in the eighth.
Matt Strahm logged a 1-2-3 ninth to close it out, evening the series at a game apiece. The teams will reconvene for the rubber game on Sunday afternoon.
Phillies starter Taijuan Walker allowed three runs and nine hits over four innings before handing the ball over to the bullpen.
Los Angeles fell behind on a first-inning RBI single by Castellanos before rallying for three runs in the fourth inning. Ward and Adell belted back-to-back homers off Walker early in the frame, followed shortly thereafter by a Zach Neto RBI single to make it it 3-1 in favor of the visitors.
Turner’s RBI single got the hosts within 3-2 in the fifth, but Moncada’s solo shot against Seth Johnson (1-0) restored a two-run lead in the sixth.
Kyle Schwarber grand slam lifts Phillies to win over Angels
