Nick Castellanos: ‘We thrive after we get punched in the face’
ATLANTA — For a moment, there was hope.
With Bryce Harper on first, Nick Castellanos lifted a ball to right center that kept carrying. If it was just a little bit higher and carried a little bit farther, the Phillies would have went to the bottom of the ninth with a lead and a chance to sweep at home in Game 3 at Citizens Bank Park.
Instead, Michael Harris II made an incredible leaping grab at the wall, regrouped, fired a seed back to the infield and Austin Riley, who hit the game-winning, two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth, threw out Harper.
It was a stunning ending to a devastating loss for the Phillies, who leave Atlanta knowing they got the job done, but still have to deal with the sting of not burying the Braves when they had the chance.
“I mean, we thrive after we get punched in the face, man,” Castellanos said in the Phillies clubhouse after Game 2. “So that’s all it is. Good. It stings. We’ll take it and make it motivate us moving forward.”
“You absolutely want to come in and go 2-0, right,” Harper said after the game. “We did our job. We went 1-1 and we’re going back home to play two in front of our home crowd. I think we’re all looking forward to that.”
The ultra-aggressive Harper was already around second when Harris II had the ball in his glove. It just so happened that the Braves center fielder made a strong throw and the third baseman Riley was in perfect position to back up the throw when it missed the second baseman Ozzie Albies.
If the ball fell, Harper would have scored easily.
“He made a good play,” Harper said. “I probably shouldn’t have gone over second base, but made a decision and I’ll live with that.”
“Usually you don’t pass the base,” manager Rob Thomson said. “You stay in front of it, make sure it’s not caught. But he thought the ball was clearly over his head, didn’t think he was going to catch it. And Harris made a heck of a play. Unbelievable. He tried to get back, and he slipped, but usually you stay in front of the second base.”
The Phillies had a 4-0 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth. Starter Zack Wheeler entered the inning without allowing a hit. He retired the first two batters, Orlando Arcia and Harris II, but walked Ronald Acuña Jr. The next batter Albies then swung at a first-pitch fastball high in the zone for a base hit. Acuña would end up scoring from first following a fielding error by Trea Turner, who could not cleanly handle the cutoff throw from the outfield. It was Turner’s second error of the game.
Wheeler escaped the inning with only one run in. Thomson decided to bring Wheeler back for the seventh. After allowing a single to Matt Olson, Wheeler hung a sweeper to Travis d’Arnaud and he hit a no-doubt two-run shot to left field to make it a one-run game.
“I kind of let them get the momentum going and that’s my fault,” Wheeler said. “Let them right back in the game and it’s tough.”
It felt like the Phillies had them until they didn’t. Braves starter Max Fried lasted only four innings, allowing three runs while walking four batters. Atlanta’s bullpen combined to allow only one earned run through five innings. Overall, the Phillies left 11 men on base and combined to go 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
“I thought we had really good at-bats,” Thomson said. “We got [Fried’s] pitch count up really high, and we had runners in scoring position, just didn’t get it done tonight, and that’s the way baseball is.”
Not adding on when they had the chance cost them a 2-0 lead. With the lead at 4-3, José Alvarado struck out Kevin Pillar and Eddie Rosario to end the seventh. He reemerged for the eighth to retire Harris II before handing the ball off to Jeff Hoffman to face the top of the Braves order.
His first pitch hit Acuña in the elbow and with Hoffman one strike away from sending the game to the ninth, Riley crushed a hanging slider to give Atlanta the lead.
“[Riley] had a good take on a four-seamer later in the at-bat,” Hoffman said. “I got him with two of them early, but he had a good take on it. Slider felt good in that situation. Good hitters hit.”
The Phillies know what it’s like to bounce back from a tough Game 2 loss against the Braves in Atlanta. Wheeler allowed three runs over six innings in a 3-0 loss in the 2022 NLDS. The game was lost when Rhys Hoskins failed to make a routine play at first base to escape the sixth unscathed.
To move forward, Hoskins said his focus was on getting back in front of the home crowd.
The 2023 Phillies will do the same.
“We got the best fans in the world,” Harper said. “They have to come in there and beat us.”
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