Phillies vs Braves: Sunday night in South Philly was the site of the last regular season matchup between the top two clubs in the National League East. It was also the second consecutive night the teams were featured on a national broadcast, this time on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. The lights were bright for an important matchup. Another pitchers’ duel was capped off by …….. Let’s break down the key moments of the game.
Another day, another duel
Atlanta and Philadelphia have both been carried the majority of the season by strong pitching – both in the rotation and the bullpen. Saturday night saw Zack Wheeler duke it out with Max Fried. Sunday saw Aaron Nola just barely outlast rookie Spencer Schwellenbach. Nola hurled six strong vs. Schwellenbach’s 5.2 innings, and both men surrendered two runs. That score would carry to the ninth, as both bullpens flashed their playoff form.
Nola surrendered a solo home run in the third to Michael Harris II, just the second Braves hitter to reach base to that point. Their other run was scored on an RBI fielder’s choice – originally ruled an inning-ending double play, but after review Whit Merrifield was ruled safe at first base and the run counted.
Report Anthony SanFilippo noted that Nola generated 21 swing-and-misses in the game. He asked Manager Rob Thomson about his starter’s strong performance, and over his last few outings:
“Velocity has gone up a little bit, and he held his velocity tonight – he was still 94 in the last inning that he pitched, and consequently the breaking ball is better because of the velocity. He was commanding all his pitches, he was going up in the zone when he needed swing-and-miss, tunneling his curve ball off of that. He was going in-and-out, he was fantastic”
Phillies hitters got to the Braves rookie in the sixth. Before that, they had just four base runners. After the first two batters of the frame flew out – Trea Turner singled, Bryce Harper doubled, and Nick Castellanos came up clutch with a double to left-center to drive them both home. Castellanos didn’t like the called strike on the pitch before, and used that energy to leg out the double on what appeared to be likely a single off the bat.
Late-inning drama between the Phillies & Braves
In the top of inning No. 9, the Braves loaded the bases against Matt Strahm. A lead-off single, with back-to-back one-out walks had the crowd at Citizens Bank Park sitting on their hands – nervous of the potential late blow from Atlanta. Strahm then induced a pop-up and easy fly ball to the eight and nine hitters to end the inning. Stott would finish the ninth stranded at second base, despite a lead-off walk from Harper, and to extras we would go.
Carlos Estévez came in and pitched both the tenth and eleventh innings for the Phillies, starting with the top of the Braves lineup. He didn’t allow a single base runner, other than the automatic runner for extra innings. He let out his emotions after his strong performance.
It was just the third time Estévez pitched more than one inning. The last was back on August 3 at Seattle, where he did allow the auto-runner to score. Thomson spoke about his performance after the game:
“Unbelievable. He’s landing his slider and throwing strikes, going right after people. His stuff is – he’s was a big pick up, for sure.”
Atlanta’s closer, Raisel Iglesias also went two strong, recording three strikeouts across the ninth and tenth. This was the right-hander’s fifth time going more than one frame.
The Hero
Nick Castellanos is the only choice for player of the game. The Phillies’ right fielder drove in all three runs, including a walk-off single to drive in Kody Clemens. Atlanta brought in Grant Holmes to face Castellanos, and he made the Braves pay with a 101.8 MPH rocket through the infield.
This was Castellanos’ fourth walk-off hit this season, which leads the majors. He joins some elite company when it comes to walk-off hits in Phillies history, as well.
Both of Castellanos’ hits came on two strike counts with two outs. The Phillies manager credited a change in approach with two strikes:
“He’s got this two strike approach now. He spreads out a little bit, so his head doesn’t move. He doesn’t have a lot of body movement and he’s putting good swings on pitches and not chasing as much. He’s been great.”
Castellanos had some fun with ESPN SportsCenter anchor, Nicole Briscoe, during the postgame, but he took some time to give credit to the fans when asked about what it’s like playing in front of them in big games:
“There’s a lot of energy, cause all these Philly fans are really into it. They’re gonna give you all their love, they’re gonna give you all their hate, ya know, but they’re gonna give you everything they got. Whatever form it comes in depends upon the night. You just gotta do the best job you can of relaxing and not let everything take you out of your game.”
It was an exciting end to an exciting series. Philly takes 5-of-7 in the home stand against two tough, playoff-caliber opponents.
Philadelphia now hits the road for a matchup with the Blue Jays in Toronto. Thomson said they “have to keep going… I’ve seen in the past, where you have a big series like this and then there’s a let down. You can’t let down, you gotta keep going. You gotta keep fighting.“
Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
