Final Score: Phillies 4, Reds 1
Back-to-back moon blasts from Nick Castellanos and Bryson Stott and another fine outing from trade deadline acquisition Noah Syndergaard propelled the Phillies to a series-opening win against the Cincinnati Reds.
Facing reliever turned makeshift starter Luis Cessa, Castellanos pounced on a 2-0 slider and sent it to the back of the bushes in center. It was one of the meanest swings from the Phillies right fielder this season. He seems to love hitting against his former team. The former Red is 7-for-18 with two home runs against Cincinnati.
The next batter Stott turned on an inside fastball out of the strike zone and crushed it into the second deck for his eighth home run of the season.
The Phillies’ 3-4-5 hitters of Alec Bohm, J.T. Realmuto and Castellanos combined to go 7-for-12 with three extra-base hits and four RBIs in what was a productive night. Castellanos himself is batting .373 over a 12 game-hitting streak.
“His swing looks good, he’s backing the ball up, he’s using the field and confidence has a lot to do with that too,” Thomson said. “He looks good right now.”
Reds manager David Bell thinks Castellanos is benefitting from finally finding some familiarity in Philadelphia.
“He’s a really good player,” Bell said. “He’s always been able to hit. I haven’t seen him as much as people here, but he definitely looks like the same guy. He’s in great shape. Looks like he’s swinging the bat well. Looks like he’s playing well.”
But the most valuable performance of the night had to come from Syndergaard, who threw seven innings of one-run ball when the Phillies needed it the most. Every back end arm for the Phillies worked on back-to-back nights over the weekend and the unit badly needed a reset. The swing-and-miss was not there for him tonight, but that didn’t really matter against a weak Reds lineup. After throwing 17 pitches in each of his first two innings of work, Syndergaard needed just 55 to get through the final five.
He primarily relied on his sinker and slider, which is a departure from his four-seam and changeup heavy arsenal he utilized with the Angels.
Bohm was removed from the game in the seventh after hitting his third single of the night. Thomson said there are no injury concerns with Bohm. He just wanted Edmundo Sosa to steal a bag in the seventh inning.
Thomson also said after the game that the Phillies are starting Cristopher Sánchez on Wednesday. The move was made to give everyone in the rotation an extra day of rest.
“That Mets series, they were grinding on them a little bit,” Thomson said. “A lot of high pitch counts in a short period of time. I think this is the most prudent thing to do.”
Shibe Vintage Sports Notes
- Realmuto’s run scored in the third was the 500th of his career. The Phillies catcher also hit his 200th double during Sunday’s game.
- Schwarber recorded his fourth four-strikeout game of the season. All four strikeouts came while looking.
- The Phillies rank third in MLB in quality starts with 59. Tonight’s outing was Syndergaard’s eighth quality start of the season.
Ticket IQ Next Game
- Tuesday, August 23 vs. Cincinnati Reds at Citizens Bank Park
- 7:05 p.m. ET
- TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
- Radio: Sportsradio 94 WIP
Aaron Bracy of the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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