ANAHEIM -- Bryce Harper had watched the Phillies miss too many chances on Saturday night.
So, standing on third with two outs in the eighth inning and his team clinging to a one-run lead, Harper took matters into his own hands -- or, well, feet. He casually strolled down the third-base line as Angels reliever Trevor Martin came set ... then Harper suddenly broke for the plate.
Though the throw easily beat Harper, he attempted to get his hand in under the tag from catcher Travis d'Arnaud. Both Harper and, more importantly, the home-plate umpire, emphatically signaled safe.
The Angels quickly challenged the play and -- after a lengthy review -- the call was overturned. Making matters worse for the Phillies, Harper's mad dash had come just moments after Trea Turner had been picked off and caught stealing third base. (The Phillies challenged that play, but it was upheld.)
“He's done it a lot in his career, and he’s had quite a bit of success, I believe," Turner said of Harper. "He’s just trying to make a play, and sometimes it doesn't work out. But, you know, I like the aggression, and you live with it and move on."
To Turner's point, Harper has stolen home three times in his career. He's also been caught four times.
"We pick each other up," Turner said after the Phillies rallied for a 4-2 win in 10 innings. "... It's exciting; I kind of like when he does stuff like that."
Exciting or not, the pair of outs on the bases quickly extinguished an opportunity for some insurance in a 1-0 game.
The Phillies became the first team to have a runner caught stealing third and another caught stealing home in the same game since July 24, 2022 (Nationals). But the Phils were the first to do so in the same inning since the 1992 White Sox ran into a couple of outs in the third inning of their April 22 game against the Yankees.
Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly was hitting second for the Yanks that night.
"I don't mind Trea's, because we're trying to get third [base] ... so just being aggressive. I think he was safe anyway," Mattingly said. "And then Harp's really isn't necessarily a bad play either."
Though Mattingly took exception with both rulings, he didn't mind the aggressiveness from either player. It was the Phillies' next baserunning miscue that he would have liked back.
After Angels shortstop Zach Neto hit a game-tying solo homer off Jonathan Bowlan in the bottom of that wild eighth inning, the game ultimately made its way to extras. With Brandon Marsh on second base as the automatic runner to begin the 10th, J.T. Realmuto hit a ball to Neto at short -- right in front of Marsh.
Marsh took off for third and was tagged out easily.
"The Trea one, I'm OK; with Harp I'm OK," Mattingly said. "But the Marsh one, when he's in scoring position, it's a ground ball, it's right at the guy."
But, as they've done so often over the past few weeks, the Phillies quickly picked each other up.
Justin Crawford followed with a single to put runners on the corners. Kyle Schwarber then dropped a blooper into shallow left-center for a go-ahead RBI double.
It was then Turner who delivered the biggest -- albeit the weakest -- hit of the night.
Turner, who has been searching for answers at the plate, hit a soft ground ball that found its way through the right side of the infield for a two-run single. The ball left his bat at just 56.6 mph.
In Turner's eyes, it balanced out what happened in the fifth inning, when he hit a ball 378 feet with a 99 mph exit velocity, only to have it caught at the wall. It would have been a home run in 22 ballparks, per Statcast.
Angel Stadium was not one of them.
So, how did it feel to see the dribbler sneak through?
"I loved it," Turner said. "That was so bad, but it felt so much better."
It wasn't pretty, but then again, not much was outside of another stellar performance by Cristopher Sánchez. The southpaw tossed seven scoreless innings, while surpassing the 200-strikeout mark for the second straight season.
Sánchez, however, took a no-decision as the Phillies wasted countless opportunities to pad their early lead. Despite making Angels starter Ryan Johnson throw 60 pitches over the first two innings, the Phils managed only one run.
They grounded into an inning-ending double play with two on in the first. They stranded the bases loaded in the second. They ran into those two outs in the eighth.
But in the end, they won for the 12th time in 14 games.
"Just find a way -- any way -- no matter how bad it looks or how good it looks," Turner said. "Just try to keep putting more runs on the board than the other team."