Nick Castellanos hits 5th walkoff in Phillies postseason history, tied NLDS at 1
Phillies' Nick Castellanos celebrates with Kyle Schwarber and teammates after his RBI single during Game 2 of the NLDS against the New York Mets, Oct. 6, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
There has been a lot of talk over the last four Phillies postseason games about chasing pitches out of the zone. It has been a major problem. Nick Castellanos has been the head of those issues.
In his second at-bat of Game 2 of the NLDS at Citizens Bank Park, he laid off of an outside breaking ball, a pitch Castellanos usually goes for. The sold-out crowd of 45,679 sarcastically cheered him. The camera picked up Castellanos saying to himself, “These f***ing people.”
We have seen this story before.
He followed that up in his next at-bat with a home run to tie the game, and ultimately a walk-off base hit to even this series up at one against the Mets. New York all week has come back late in games. The Phillies gave them a taste of their own medicine Sunday afternoon.
The series now shifts to Citi Field, where the Phillies need two wins to take the series, or a split to bring the series back to Philadelphia for a win or go home Game 5.
Cristopher Sanchez got the start for the Phils in his second career playoff start. He got the nod over Aaron Nola to start Game 2 at home rather than Game 3 in Queens because his home ERA is three points better than his ERA on the road.
Sanchez gave the Phillies exactly what they needed from him. He threw five innings with the only runs he allowed coming on a two-run homer by Mark Vientos.
But, similarly to Saturday, the offense gave the Mets nothing. They stranded a runner on third in back-to-back innings and had no answers for Luis Severino, until the sixth inning.
Down 3-0 after Pete Alonso‘s opposite-field homer in the top of the sixth off of Jose Ruiz, Francisco Alvarez called for a 2-2 fastball up on Bryce Harper. Severino missed his bat, leaving it over the plate. And with Trea Turner at first, Harper did not miss it. He crushed it, 111.8 mph off the batter’s eye in center field, 431 feet away, to rejuvenate the Phillies crowd.
Harper’s 12th homer tied Kyle Schwarber for the most postseason dingers in Phillies history.
Then, just one pitch later, Castellanos had his turn.
Two pitches later, one at-bat after cursing out the Phillies fans for sarcastically cheering him, Castellanos absolutely crushed a flat, 0-1 sweeper by Severino 425 feet to left field to tie the game.
Phillies-Mets is always incapable of being normal. Something crazy always occurs when these two squads meet up.
That continued in the top of the seventh, where Brandon Nimmo struck right back at the Phils. Orion Kerkering entered the game for the Phillies after throwing just eight pitches Saturday night. He threw a 3-1 sinker with two outs down in the zone, and Nimmo lined it just over the right field wall, giving the Mets a 4-3 lead. When Nimmo reached home plate, he seemed to be chirping at the Phillies’ dugout.
The Mets in the bottom of the frame brought Edwin Diaz into the game with two outs and runners on first and second and Schwarber coming up to the plate. He worked a full count, and Diaz released a slider that broke into the dirt. Schwarber offered at it, half-swung, dropped the bat, and was called out on the swing. It was close, but he swung.
Diaz stayed in for the eighth, opening it with a strikeout on Turner. He gave Harper nothing to hit, walking him, and gave up an opposite-field single to Castellanos, bringing the birthday boy, Bryson Stott, up to the plate. The now 27-year-old lined a 3-2, 90 mph slider down the field line, plating both Harer and Castellanos The 25th triple of the year for the Phillies gave them a 5-4 lead.
J.T. Realmuto hit a dribbler to Vientos shortly after, which he bobbled, and Stott scored, giving the Phillies a two-run lead.
Diaz is the Mets’ most commanding reliever. Getting to him Sunday night was a huge confidence builder for this Phillies offense. It was a complete remaster of what transpired just a day ago when the Mets got to the Phils’ highest-powered relievers — Jeff Hoffman and Matt Strahm.
But in the ninth, things turned once again.
Strahm entered the game, and let up a one-out single to Francisco Lindor. Vientos stepped up and hit a game-tying home run on a pitch at his letters. This amazing run for the Mets continued with never giving up, never backing down, and always fighting. The bullpen had allowed three solo homers in four innings. They were a disaster in Game 1 and almost were a big reason for Game 2’s loss.
But, Castellanos came up huge again. With two outs and back-to-back walks from Turner and Harper, Castellanos roped a 1-2 Tyler Megill slider down the left field line. Turner roared him with ease, and the Phillies celebrated their first postseason win of 2024.
After going 1-4 on Saturday with the one hit coming in garbage time, chasing at horrible pitches, and letting the Phillies fans get in his head, Castellanos smashed a homer to tie the game, got a big knock, scoring the game-leading run at the time, and hitting the fifth walk-off in Phillies postseason history.
The Phillies have needed protection behind Harper the past two postseason. They have Castellanos in that spot this year. All it takes sometimes is one swing to turn a team and a player around. Castellanos had a lot of big ones Sunday. They are certainly enough to perhaps fuel him. If Harper has protection, it forces pitchers to have to throw to him. That makes the Phils so much more dangerous.
The other four postseason walk-offs: George Vukovich‘s solo home run in Game 4 of the 1981 NLDS against the Montreal Expos to force a Game 5, a 10th-inning walk-off double against the Braves by Kim Batiste, a Carlos Ruiz infield single to take a 2-1 lead in the 2008 World Series, and Jimmy Rollins‘ walk-off extra-base hit on Jonathan Broxton in Game 4 of the 2009 NLCS.
Add Castellanos to the all-time Phillies postseason moments list. And what a whirlwind of emotions for him. The day ended with his son. Castellanos ran right over to Liam after the game, embracing with him through the netting. It was a special moment after perhaps saving the Phillies’ season.
This series now turns into a best-of-three. It will turn to Citi Field on Tuesday with Nola on the mound for the Phillies and Sean Manaea for the Mets. The first pitch is at 5:08 p.m. ET.
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Benjamin Goldstein
Benjamin has been covering Philly Sports for Philly Sports Reports since 2017. He is a podcaster, writer, and founder of Philly Sports Reports. Benjamin is also an intern at the WBCB Sports Network on 1490AM. Through Philly Sports Reports, Benjamin has gotten the opportunity to meet Phillies owner John Middleton in his suite and be honored as the Philadelphia sports fan of the week for KYW News Radio. He hopes to be reporting on Philly sports as a full-time job in the future.
