Phillies Salvage Series in Pittsburgh. Castellanos Homers in 6-0 Win. – Philly Sports

A weekend series in Pittsburgh kicked off the second half of the Phillies’ season. After a Friday night slump and a Saturday night disappointment, the Phils had to respond positively on Sunday.

In an effort to avoid losing their fourth straight game, the team sent rookie Tyler Phillips to the mound as a stopgap measure. The hometown starter has become a fan favorite since his recent call-up from Triple-A, and the lifelong Phillies fan is living the dream. More importantly, he’s giving his favorite team a chance to win, and that’s all Rob Thomson could ask for.

Phillies score first

In the top of the second inning, All-Star Alec Bohm would start the action with a leadoff single. A few batters later, Edmundo Sosa would hit a double, moving Alec to third base.

This gave the Phillies their first chance to score with runners in scoring position. Wes Wilson hit a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Bohm and moving Sosa to third. This is the definition of a productive out.

With Edmundo Sosa on second, Garrett Stubbs would score another run. Stubbs singled to right field, scoring Sosa and giving the Phillies a 2-0 lead. The Phillies have won 10 of the last 15 games in which Garrett has started behind the plate.

Phillips settles

Tyler Phillips is exactly what the Phillies needed with injuries to their starting rotation. The rookie right-handed pitcher has filled in nicely in the absences of Spencer Turnbull and Taijaun Walker.

Phillips threw six scoreless frames in Pittsburgh this afternoon. He grounded out seven batters, keeping the Pirates’ offense off balance. Tyler doesn’t have an explosive arm like Zack Wheeler, but he can throw to both sides of the plate, like Ranger Suarez. He struck out three batters in the game and allowed just one walk.

Every time it looked like Pittsburgh would get an offense going, a big one followed. In the bottom of the fourth, a beautiful 5-4-3 double play helped thwart a potential Pittsburgh response.

Joining runs

The Phillies didn’t stop at just two runs on Sunday afternoon and gave their young pitcher plenty of support late in the game.

In the top of the 7th frame, the Phillies would take advantage of a bad mistake by Pirates shortstop Oneil Cruz. A routine play saw Cruz drop the ball at second base. After the Phillies successfully challenged the call, they would be rewarded with runners on first and second.

Trea Turner then hit a ball the other way, scoring Garrett Stubbs from second base and moving Kyle Schwarber from first to third. This was an example of heads-up baserunning by Kyle, which would be repaid with the next batter. Bryce Harper hit a ground ball to second on what should have been a double-play ball. Pittsburgh got only one out on the play, allowing Schwarber to score from third.

Trea Turner had advanced to second base and would score on Alec Bohm’s next single, snapping a 13-game streak without an RBI and giving the Phillies a 5-0 lead.

Castellanos goes deep

Earlier in the game, Nick Castellanos narrowly missed a home run, hitting a ball off the base of the right-center field wall to give himself a leadoff double.

In the ninth inning, Nick couldn’t miss this one.

A deep drive to right field by Castellanos made it a 6-0 game. It was the exclamation point on the Phillies’ first second-half victory, and they were available to avoid the sweep. They are the only team in Major League Baseball not to be swept in 2024.

The Phillies travel to Minnesota to play the Twins before returning home to host the Cleveland Guardians and New York Yankees. The club’s next five series will be against teams currently in the playoff picture. It will be a challenge, but if the Phillies can hold their ground, they could be poised for a division title.

Photo credits: AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee