The Phillies beat the Brewers 2-1 in ten innings on Tuesday at Citizens Bank Park. Cristopher Sanchez pitched well, the Phils’ bullpen dazzled, Alec Bohm hit a game-tying home run, and Nick Castellanos lined a double to right field to end the ballgame.
“This is by far the best team I’ve ever been on and I’m really enjoying it,” said Castellanos afterwards, freshly drenched in water by Bohm and Bryson Stott. The duo dumped a full cooler on Casty instead of just a few cups, a move reserved for only the most deserving Phillies victories.
And this win certainly warranted the full-cooler treatment. Though Castellanos received the honor, the game featured a number of stellar performances by the Fightins:
– Sanchez threw six innings of one-run ball, allowing four hits and walking just one batter.
– Jose Ruiz pitched a scoreless seventh and Orion Kerkering pitched a clean eighth.
– Alec Bohm, hitless in nine at-bats coming into the game and 0/3 on the night before his home run, came through in the bottom of the eighth with the 420-foot blast to center.
– Matt Strahm pitched the ninth and kept the game tied, pushing his streak of consecutive innings without allowing an earned run to 24.2 (in 25 appearances). The Brewers put runners on first and third with one out in the inning, but Strahm struck Rhys Hoskins out looking and induced a fly ball out to send the game to extras.
– Stott and J.T. Realmuto teamed up for a putout at home in the top of the tenth, holding the Brewers scoreless and setting up Castellanos’ game-ending hit.
Castellanos was effusive in his praise for Realmuto during his postgame interview: “J.T., if you look at these past two games, the pick that he had [on a throw in the dirt from Wheeler as part of a 1-2-3 double play] yesterday, right, that play almost saves the entire game. And then him being able to grind and protect home plate, come back after that foul ball that he took [to a sensitive area earlier in the game], it’s just great all around.”
The win kept the Phillies seven games ahead of the Atlanta Braves in the National League East. It also kept them just two wins behind the 1993 Phillies for the best record in franchise history through 62 games.
“We’re just rolling,” said Castellanos. “We’ve been so good in every aspect of the game.”
The Phils will look to keep rolling and sweep the NL Central-leading Brewers on Wednesday afternoon. Aaron Nola (7-2, 3.03 ERA) will face Aaron Ashby (0-1, 9.82 ERA) at 4:05 p.m. Ashby, a nephew of ex-Phillies pitcher Andy Ashby, will be recalled from Milwaukee’s AAA affiliate in Nashville for his second spot start of the season.
