PHILADELPHIA — Angels relievers Sam Bachman and José Fermin are still trying to find the control to match their stuff.
Their inability to find the strike zone was mostly responsible for the combined meltdown that led to a five-run sixth inning in the Angels’ 9-5 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday night.
The Angels had a two-run lead after Yusei Kikuchi was pulled, following a 91-pitch outing that included 33 pitches just to get through the fifth.
Bachman, a 25-year-old who had pitched 24 previous big league games, retired just one of the four hitters he faced in the sixth. He gave up a hit, walked one and hit a batter.
“I was trying to make the pitches, one pitch at a time,” Bachman said. “Some were going where I wanted to and some weren’t.”
Fermin, a 23-year-old who had 19 games of big league experience to his name, then entered with the bases loaded. Fermin gave up a deep fly ball to score one run, and then he issued a walk to reload the bases for Kyle Schwarber.
Schwarber, one of the game’s premier power hitters, got a 98 mph fastball at the top of the zone and he knocked it over the wall in right, for a grand slam, turning a 4-3 Angels lead into a 7-4 deficit. Fermin said he wanted the pitch to be a little higher, to get a swing and miss or a fly ball.
“Today I was trying to do the best I can, but I didn’t execute the pitches,” Fermin said through an interpreter. “I’m going to keep working.”
Fermin and Bachman have each shown flashes of their potential because of sharp sliders and fastballs in the upper 90s, but control has at times eluded them.
“They’re young,” interim manager Ray Montgomery said. “They’re still battling through it. They haven’t figured out who they are yet entirely. So we’re going to keep putting them in situations like that, and look for the best spots, and hopefully, they make the pitches they need to make.”
Fermin, who walked one more hitter after the grand slam, has now issued 11 walks in 17⅔ innings. His ERA rose to 5.09. Bachman has walked five and hit one batter in 12 innings this season, to go with a 5.25 ERA. He walked nine in 11⅓ innings in Triple-A before he was recalled.
The bullpen failure spoiled a nice offensive night for the Angels.
Taylor Ward, Jo Adell and Yoán Moncada each hit homers. Ward hit the 100th homer of his career, and his team-leading 23rd of the season. Adell hit his 21st, setting a new career high.
The Angels had 12 hits, with eight of the nine starters collecting a hit for the second straight game.
Nolan Schanuel just missed a bases-loaded extra-base hit in the fourth when right fielder Nick Castellanos made a sliding catch.
“We’re four feet from that ball in front of Castellanos breaking the game open,” Montgomery said.
The Phillies could have had more against Kikuchi in the first five innings. He gave up only two runs, but he also walked three, contributing to his high pitch count.
Kikuchi gave up a run in the first, and it could have been worse if not for a Phillies baserunning gaffe. The Phillies had runners at second and third with no outs, and they ran themselves into a double play. Trea Turner started to come home on a grounder to second, but then he stopped and went back to third. Schwarber kept coming from second, so the Angels got both runners in a rundown.
After that, Kikuchi kept the Phillies off the board until the fifth. Although he gave up only one run in the inning, he had to work hard, including a 10-pitch strikeout of Bryce Harper.
At that point, the Angels had four innings to maneuver with a bullpen that worked all nine innings the night before, but leaving Kikuchi in for another inning wasn’t an option, to Montgomery.
“He obviously really humped up in the Harper AB,” Montgomery said. “He was 33 pitches in. He emptied the tank right there, and did a really good job. So he was done right there.”
Kikuchi grudgingly agreed.
“I was definitely tired after that 33-pitch inning,” Kikuchi said through his interpreter. “Inside, I wanted to go another inning but I think the coaches saw I was a little tired too, so they pulled the plug there.”