PHILADELPHIA — Alec Bohm, who has a sore hand that prevented him from playing this weekend, charged at Nick Castellanos. He wielded a water bottle in the hand that doesn’t hurt. He looked deranged. He almost beat Castellanos to first base. He sprayed Castellanos, then chucked the plastic bottle at him. Bohm tried to jump on Castellanos’ back, then thought better.
Castellanos had already done all of the lifting — two two-out, two-strike hits against the Atlanta Braves in one of the more consequential games of the season. His single won it Sunday night, 3-2, in the 11th inning. The Philadelphia Phillies took three of four, have a seven-game lead, and it’s all there for them. They have not won the National League East in 13 years. Their magic number is 19.
It had to be Castellanos, their most consistent hitter for four months, which defies most expectations. He batted cleanup with Bohm sidelined. He started the season batting seventh, which annoyed him, and he voiced his opinion. He hit his way higher. He delivered a go-ahead, two-run homer in the first game of this Braves series.
It had to be with two strikes — Castellanos had four RBIs in all of his at-bats that started 0-2 before Sunday. Then, he drove in three runs Sunday after facing 0-2 counts.
It had to be Castellanos because he’s been there every single day. He wants to play 162 games. He was telling everyone this in spring training. Rob Thomson heard it, so he offered Castellanos the chance. The manager could have sat him in April when Castellanos could not find his swing. He understood how important it was to Castellanos.
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His teammates have come to love this quest for 162.
“That dude works his tail off the second he gets in here until he leaves,” Brandon Marsh said. “So, moments like tonight are kind of what comes from that. I admire the heck out of 8. He’s posting up every day. And he’s come through for us huge the last god-knows-how-long. I don’t know how many walk-offs he has this year.”
Four.
“Yeah,” Marsh said. “So the dude’s been nails for us. We’re going to need him.”
Marsh wasn’t too far behind Bohm in the raucous celebration. “I was just screaming at him,” Marsh said, “and telling him how much of a gangster he was.” Almost 30 minutes later, as the Phillies prepared for a late-night flight to Canada, Marsh teased Castellanos for putting his hair in a bun before doing a postgame interview on ESPN.
They could smile because Castellanos — of all people — exuded calmness with two strikes and two outs.
“That was as big as a moment as we’ve had, and he pulled through for us,” Marsh said. “So that’s just Nick being Nick.”
Thomson waited at the dugout steps and, when a soaked Castellanos approached, they hugged. It was a long embrace. Castellanos is an imperfect player. He had a chance to do something in the ninth inning against Braves closer Raisel Iglesias. He swung at three pitches — all out of the strike zone.
“He doesn’t give me anything and takes advantage of my aggressiveness,” Castellanos said. “Next AB, I wasn’t going to make the same mistake.”
The Braves made mistakes. Spencer Schwellenbach, their terrific rookie righty, had Castellanos in an 0-2 hole in the sixth inning. Travis d’Arnaud called for a slider down and away — Castellanos’ kryptonite. The slider slipped out of Schwellenbach’s hand, leaked over the plate and right into Castellanos’ bat path. He cracked a two-run double to left.
He fell behind 0-2 to Grant Holmes, who had surrendered that home run to Castellanos three days earlier. Castellanos took a slider in the dirt this time. He fouled off another slider out of the zone. He stayed alive.
Holmes gave him another fastball to hit. It was almost the same pitch that Castellanos crushed three days ago.
“You don’t have to throw him a breaking ball,” d’Arnaud said. “Unfortunately, it was just right where he likes it instead of a different location. It was in his spot. But what can you do? It happens over 162. Just didn’t go our way.”
Castellanos grinned.
“It makes me want to have two strikes more often,” he said.
Probably not a good idea.
“I’m really happy for him,” Thomson said. “He’s just worked so hard to get his swing back and get going. And he’s done it.”
Castellanos is the fourth Phillie with four walk-off hits in a season since 1920. Jean Segura (2021), Juan Samuel (1985) and Tony Taylor (1970) also did it. Only one Phillies player — Freddy Galvis in 2017 — has played in all 162 games over the last 15 seasons. Castellanos is not trying to prove a point; he just looked at 162 as healthy motivation.
“That’s something that we all admire about him,” Marsh said. “It’s a ton of baseball games. And for a dude at 32 years old, he’s posting up every single day. It’s impressive.”
Castellanos has hit .265/.315/.466 since May 1. It’s not top-of-the-league production. He signed a $100 million deal to be a run-producing force in the middle of the Phillies’ lineup. No one on the Phillies has driven in more runs than Castellanos since May 1.
Having a better two-strike approach has helped. Castellanos has worked hard at it in the afternoons with Rafael Pena, an assistant hitting coach. Paco Figueroa, the first-base coach, is attached to Castellanos’ hip during the day. He’s helped Castellanos stay focused.
It has made Castellanos steadier.
“He’s got this two-strike approach now,” Thomson said. “So he spreads out a little bit. So his head doesn’t move. He doesn’t have a whole lot of body movement. He’s putting good swings on pitches and not chasing as much. He’s been great.”
As September begins, Thomson has told his players about the small things. He wants everyone to sweat the details. The Phillies, all of a sudden, are 12-7 in their last 19 games. They are not fixed. But they look closer to the team that sprinted to a huge lead before a summer lull.
They’ve had reinforcements. Carlos Estévez, the hulking closer who fired 99 mph fastballs in two scoreless innings that started with automatic runners on second base, is one. He has risen to the bigger moments.
Now, he knows what Phillies-Braves is all about.
“We don’t get cold feet,” Estévez said. “That’s what it looks like. And that’s how it feels like.”
Maybe they’ll see each other again in October. Maybe not. The games they play are stressful and dramatic. It’s two good teams that play winning baseball. It feels like they need to do this again in the postseason.
“This was a fun game,” Castellanos said. “A big series. The crowd was electric. And to be able to come through there was awesome.”
(Photo: Tim Nwachukwu / Getty Images)
