Wheeler ends his winless run as Phillies close out the Angels 5-2
Two solo homers and a two-run eighth carried Philadelphia in Anaheim, giving Zack Wheeler his first win since July 12 with the NL East race tightening.
Zack Wheeler had not won a game since July 12. Sunday in Anaheim, the Phillies' ace finally got back in the column — and the way it happened says plenty about where Philadelphia is in September.
A 1-1 game until one swing
The Angels nicked a run in the first, J.T. Realmuto answered with a solo homer — his 10th — and the game sat at 1-1 into the seventh. Then Edmundo Sosa broke it open with a solo shot of his own, his 7th, per MLB.com's game story. Philadelphia added two in the eighth on a Luis Arraez sacrifice fly and a Brandon Marsh RBI single, and Bryce Harper tacked on an RBI double in the ninth. Final: Phillies 5, Angels 2, in front of 31,035 at Angel Stadium, per the box score.
Wheeler (11-5) struck out six to end a seven-start winless stretch; Orion Kerkering closed it out for his second save. The hard-luck loser was Yusei Kikuchi (0-5), who gave the Angels seven full innings — something he hadn't done since August 2025 — and still couldn't buy a win. Mike Trout drove in the Angels' late run with a ninth-inning double.
The September stakes
For Philadelphia, this is about the NL East race. The win moved the Phillies to 77-60, and they sit second in the division at 79-60, three games behind Atlanta (82-57) with under a month to play — every series now doubles as jockeying for playoff seeding, and a locked-in Wheeler is the single biggest variable in how deep this team can go.
For the Angels, 52-85 after the loss and rooted to the bottom of the AL West, the games are about auditions. Kikuchi's seven innings won't show up anywhere that matters in the standings, but it is exactly the kind of outing a rebuilding club needs to see in September. The full schedule for the beat rolls on.