Castellanos stops thinking, stops boos with game-winner
Vocal fans at Citizens Bank Park left little doubt of how they felt about Nick Castellanos’ consecutive ugly strikeouts earlier Saturday, the second with a potential go-ahead run on second base to and the seventh inning.
Now Castellanos strode to the plate with the bases loaded and one out in the ninth, new Pirates reliever Roansy Contreras ready to try to throw one by him. But for all the sounds of Castellanos consternation cutting through the cold wind throughout the game, not to mention his .160 batting average coming into it, Castellanos was more than ready, too.
That first Contreras pitch was slammed to centerfield by Castellanos, easily clearing every Pittsburgh head and landing not shy of the wall for a walkoff Castellanos hit and a 4-3 Phillies victory that turned jeers to cheers … even inwardly for the guy getting mobbed by his charging teammates.
“Anytime you can come through and end the game, it’s going to feel good,” Castellanos said. “It’s a lot of fun when all your friends are running at you, man.”
Though he’s far from the only Phillie getting out of the season gate at a slow pace, Castellanos had to be feeling the heat from the stands and the pressure to come through for his friends on the field, especially with Bryce Harper not in much of a groove of late hitting in front of him. Harper had struck out with two in scoring position, before Alec Bohm was intentionally walked ahead of Castellanos.
Now it was Castellanos’ time to shine, if only because the odds were demanding it. So how did it feel?
“Great, because I knew it was good enough for (at least) a sac fly,” Castellanos said. “That was probably my first at bat all year where I didn’t have an approach. I was just ready to hit. … I wanted to end the game, bro.”
If for one celebratory afternoon, Castellanos also ended the searing jeers, not that coming through looked any different to those charging teammates.
“When that guy steps to the plate, you’re always thinking something good is going to happen,” Kyle Schwarber said of Castellanos, who had plated a run with a single to off-balance Pirates shortstop Oneil Cruz. “Today was a great example. That was a great RBI single, and then he came up with the game on the line, bases loaded, and put a really good swing on a pretty good fastball. It’s great. Hopefully he keeps going with it and takes off from there. … We have all the faith in him.”
Before that fabulous finish, manager Rob Thomson had tried to give his lineup a refresher. Out came starting catcher J.T. Realmuto, leading Phillies hitter Brandon
Marsh and second baseman Bryson Stott.
In went seldom used replacements Garrett Stubbs and Cristian Pache behind the plate and in left field, respectively, and very seldom used utility piece Edmundo Sosa to second.
Doesn’t seem like much of a three-way lineup trade, but hey, it takes a village … especially when some of the citizens aren’t working up to par.
“Yeah, it can happen both ways,” Thomson said before the game. “It’s guys that getting a day off can get them going, and guys that have had days off, getting them in the lineup to get them going. I think there are times, depending on the person, where you give them a day off and get them to relax and not think about the game, it helps them.”
With semi-accomplished lefty Marco Gonzales on the mound for the Pirates, it seemed the right time to offer a bench seat to lefthanded swingers Stott and Marsh, though Marsh has been hot essentially from Day 1 of the season. Both were used as pinch-hitters late.
“It’s difficult to keep (Marsh) out, it really is,” Thomson added. “And like I said (Friday), he’s going to get a lot of reps against lefthanded pitching. We’ll just have to pick and choose.”
But Thomson’s choices didn’t fare all that well. His last four lineup starters, Sosa, Stubbs, Pache and Johan Rojas, were a combined
2-for-13 with three strikeouts.
Then there was Castellanos, who entered with the .160 batting average, and despite his early RBI single was hearing it from the stands after the two awkward strikeouts.
He had vaguely vented a little frustration after a similarly bad plate experience Friday night.
“I stand different all the time,” Castellanos said then. “A lot of that has to do with who I am facing. When I feel really good, I start doing stuff. I don’t know what I’m doing, I’m just playing. You know, when I start thinking too much, I try to stop chasing and become more disciplined. … I think for me, it’s just back to finding what I believe in, and then having fun is huge, too, because hitting is hard enough and if you’re in a bad mood, and you’re like, you’re trying to figure out, the chances are pretty low. But if you start enjoying yourself, having fun appreciating the people around you, you’d be in a better mood.”
Voila, Castellanos would go on Saturday to not think and instead drill a ball to the wall on the first pitch he saw. That was some fun, too.
“Honestly, man, the only approach I’ve really had consistently when I’m doing well is to see the ball,” Castellanos said. “Having an opportunity to end the game helped me get back to that.”
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NOTES » All those ninth-inning heroics were only made possible by a Phillies bullpen effort that earned rave reviews from Thomson and struggling starting pitcher Spencer Turnbull. He had given up three earned runs early, saying it was “fortunate” he only allowed that many. But over the course of five shutout innings, the bullpen collective of Matt Strahm, Greg Soto, Jose Alvarado and Jeff Hoffman allowed one hit and one walk (both by Soto). In two perfect innings, Strahm struck out five straight Pirates, the first Phillies reliever to do that since Victor Arano KO’s six in a row in 2019. … As for Realmuto, he sat the whole game one day after a hard Yunior Marte pitch went directly off his left wrist. Thomson said his catcher’s absence had nothing to do with injury. “He’s good,” Thomson said. “A little sore, but he’s fine.”