Nick

Castellanos

Oh how things can change in this sport. Castellanos was mock-cheered for laying off a pitch in the dirt after swinging and missing — badly — at two earlier in an at-bat. Castellanos was seen muttering something not-so-nice in that at-bat, but clearly, it didn’t hurt him. He went back-to-back with Bryce Harper in the sixth inning, and his solo shot tied the game at 3-3. He also singled to move Harper to third in the eighth, and one inning later, he lined what would have been a double with two outs to win the game. It keeps Philadelphia out of a 2-0 hole, and now they’ll have Aaron Nola on the mound for Game 3 in New York on Tuesday.

Castellanos’ home run was his 23rd of the year. He hit a solo shot off Javier Assad in the third inning. Castellanos is 18-for-50 (.360) with four home runs and eight RBI in his last 14 games. He’s heating up at the right time as the Phillies are primed for another playoff run.

Of course. Castellanos’ home run was his 20th of the season. He hit a two-run shot off Shane Baz in the first inning. It’s his seventh home run in the second half of the year. Castellanos is closing in on his second season in the last three years with an OPS+ below 100. He’s hitting .245 with a .717 OPS and 80 RBI on the year.

Castellanos came through with a two-out, two-run double off of Spencer Schwellenbach in the sixth inning that tied the game at 2-2. He then played the role of hero in the 11th inning with an RBI single off of Aaron Bummer to send the Phillies’ home faithful into a frenzy. On the season, the 32-year-old slugger is hitting a disappointing .249/.303/.421 with 19 homers and 76 RBI.

Castellanos’ home run was his 19th of the season. He hit a two-run shot off Grant Holmes in the seventh inning. It’s Castellanos’ third home run in his last five games. He’s hitting .250 with a .728 OPS and 73 RBI on the year.

Castellanos was responsible for three of the four runs the Phillies plated in the third inning, as his 413-foot drive into left-center drove in Bryce Harper and Trea Turner to push his team’s lead to 4-0. It was the 18th homer of the season for Castellanos, who has now hit safely in five-straight games and has three homers and 10 extra-base hits on the month.

Castellanos got the Phillies on the board in the fourth inning with an RBI double off MacKenzie Gore. It’s his sixth game in a row with a base hit. He’s 9-for-24 (.375) with a home run, three doubles and four RBI in that span. Castellanos is hitting .249 with a .725 OPS and 62 RBI on the year.

Castellanos trimmed Philadelphia’s early deficit in half with a run-scoring single off Yankees starter Nestor Cortes before tacking on a run-scoring ground out and another run-scoring single in the late stages of the contest. The 32-year-old veteran has settled in a solid yet unspectacular fantasy contributor over the last few years and that trend has continued so far this season with 15 homers, 57 RBI and three steals through 108 contests.

Castellanos’ two-run double in the ninth padded the Phillies’ lead at 3-0, putting them in position to come out on the winning side of a pitcher’s duel that saw both teams go eight innings without scoring a run. Castellanos is 6-for-19 at the plate over his last five games, with a homer, four doubles, and five RBI. He’s slashing .266/.309/.500 on the month with nine extra-base hits.

It was shocking to see Castellanos go yard on such a typical, mundane Sunday afternoon. Regardless, the late homer pushed his OPS above .700 for the first time since March and he’s slashing .302/.349/.517 over his last 30 games.