Phils hang on to beat Braves in Game 1
ATLANTA >> Not everything the Phillies envisioned when they signed Nick Castellanos to a $100 million contract this offseason has come to fruition.
Castellanos’ starring role Tuesday, though, was something straight out of John Middleton’s dream journal, a performance to overwrite much of the frustration that was his debut season in Philadelphia.
Castellanos supplied three hits, three RBIs and a diving catch for the second out in the ninth as the Phillies hung on for a 7-6 win over the Atlanta Braves in Game 1 of the National League Division Series.
Castellanos was pivotal to manufacturing runs early and often. His three hits and three RBIs are the first time that the reigning Silver Slugger has done that in a Phillies uniform. He led an offense that played small ball, stitching together five doubles, seven singles and two sacrifice bunts, a third of their 162game total, to break the NL East champions’ resolve.
Thanks to Matt Olson’s three-run homer in the ninth inning off Zach Eflin, it would turn out the Phillies needed all of that offense. They also needed Castellanos to sprawl out in right field to catch a sinking William Contreras liner for the second out of the ninth after Olson went yard.
The Phillies strung together four straight twoout singles in the top of the first, JT Realmuto starting it with a two-strike base knock before Bryce Harper scalded one to center. Castellanos and Alec Bohm, the latter the opposite way on an 0-2 count, drove home runs to make it 2-0. The Phillies had gone 0-for-16 with two outs in the Wild Card series against the Cardinals but turned it around quickly on Max Fried, who owned a 3.13 ERA in four outings against them this season.
An error by Fried opened the door in the third, allowing Realmuto to reach leading off. A Harper sacrifice was followed by Castellanos doubling off the wall in right, Ronald Acuna Jr. deking Realmuto into thinking he had a beat on it to leave runners on second and third.
But the Phillies cashed in, Bohm lofting a sac fly to center, then Jean Segura lacing a single up the middle that scored Castellanos, whose tremendous hand slide slipped in inches before the throw of Michael Harris II.
And they kept piling on, manufacturing runs in the way that a lineup designed with one-through-nine depth was envisioned for but too often fell shy of this season. In the fourth, an Edmundo Sosa walk and Hoskins double put two in scoring position with one out. Realmuto struck out and Harper was walked intentionally. Castellanos greeted reliever Jesse Chavez with a two-run single to make it 6-1.
A leadoff double by Segura in the sixth was followed by a sacrifice bunt and a sac fly by Sosa for a 7-1 edge.
They would need every bit of the offense. Ranger Suarez battled but, thanks in large part to five walks, only made it 3.1 innings. Even that required 86 pitches and him escaping a pair of bases-loaded jams.
In the first, he got Contreras to roll into a double play. In the third, it was Travis d’Arnaud chasing a fastball out of the zone. D’Arnaud had gotten the Braves on the board in the second by driving a Suarez offering 430 feet and out to left center.
With the Phillies down a high-leverage reliever after David Robertson’s calf strain, the battle to bridge to the back end started early. Andrew Bellatti quelled a twoon threat in the fourth. Connor Brogdon pitched into difficulty in the fifth, serving up a d’Arnaud two-run double down the line in left.
But Brad Hand entered to get a fly out, which Matt Vierling tracked down in center, and a strikeout to avoid further damage. It was Hand’s
first appearance since Sept. 20, on the injured list with elbow tendinitis.
That started a run of 11 straight batters retired by Phillies relievers. Seranthony Dominguez registered six of them, needing 18 pitches to mow down the top six in the Braves order in the sixth and seventh innings. Jose Alvarado pitched a clean eight.
Zach Eflin ran into a spot of bother in the ninth, with Acuna Jr. (3-for-4) reaching on an infield single and Dansby Swanson, who had struck out four times, singled off the wall in right. Olson deposited a pitch 414 feet over the fence in center. But Eflin steeled himself and got Contreras to line out before d’Arnaud grounded out to Sosa at short.