Phillies finish their best week in months with a walk-off win. Originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
In five of seven games of a difficult home stretch, the Phillies trailed by multiple runs in the fifth inning or later, but kept coming back to beat the Braves 3-2 in 11 innings on Sunday Night Baseball, capping a 5-2 week in dramatic fashion.
Nick Castellanos tied the game with a two-out double in an 0-2 count in the bottom of the sixth inning and then put the Phils away with a two-out single in the 11th inning after starting the count again at 0-2.
It sent the 43,249 sold-out crowd home in overjoyed celebration, just as it did after Bryce Harper’s walk-off hit on Monday, Castellanos’ great game on Tuesday, the four-run comeback on Thursday and the Zack Wheeler-led shutout on Saturday.
“It definitely feels like October is just around the corner,” Castellanos said.
The Phillies took three of four games against the Braves after winning two of three against the Astros. It was their best week in months. They are seven games ahead of Atlanta without having to face each other again the rest of the season, which will make it extremely difficult for the Braves to close the gap.
“We’re not getting cold feet, that’s what it looks like and that’s what it feels like,” Carlos Estevez said when asked about his first impressions of the Phillies-Braves rivalry.
“Really important. We were struggling a bit, but stepping on the gas and building up a bigger lead gives us more confidence and feels really good.”
The Phils are 81-56 with 25 games remaining, one game behind the Dodgers for first place in the National League and one game ahead of the Brewers for second place.
Aaron Nola and Spencer Schwellenbach engaged in a pitching duel for most of the first six innings, and from there the back end of the Phillies bullpen took care of things.
Orion Kerkering, Jeff Hoffman, Matt Strahm and Estevez followed with five zeroes, combining for 15⅓ scoreless innings this week. Estevez retired all six batters he faced with the auto-runner in scoring position in the 10th and 11th innings. It was a stellar home run for the Phillies’ top four relievers against quality competition.
“Unbelievable,” manager Rob Thomson said of Estevez’s performance. “He lands his slider and throws strikes, goes right at people. He was a big catch.”
“It’s not October yet, there’s still a long way to go, but we have to keep the boys healthy and as fresh as possible.”
The first run of the game was scored by a Michael Harris II home run against Nola with two strikes and two outs in the top of the third. At that point, Nola had struck out eight of the first nine with five strikeouts.
Nola then threw 31 pitches in a slow, tiring fourth inning, allowing just one run and nearly getting away unscathed. With one out and runners on the corners, Whit Merrifield hit a ball softly to shortstop. The Phillies initially appeared to be making an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play, but Merrifield was ruled safe after an appeal by Brian Snitker.
Nola found his rhythm after that, striking out the last seven batters he faced. It was a strong outing in his 38th career start against the Braves – 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 9 K. He kept the game close enough that his lineup finally struck on the third out.
Nola and Zack Wheeler started four of the Phillies’ seven home games and pitched like aces, posting a 1.38 ERA, 0.85 WHIP and 28 strikeouts in 26 innings. Pitching led the way in the first half and remained so all week for the Phillies, except for Wednesday’s forgettable 10-run loss.
The Phils have Monday off before a six-game road trip through Toronto and Miami. Tyler Phillips and Cristopher Sanchez will face the Blue Jays, while Ranger Suarez, Wheeler, Nola and Phillips will pitch in Miami.
“Now we have to keep going,” said Thomson. “You often see that you have such a great series and then experience disappointment. You can’t let yourself down, you have to keep going and keep fighting.”
