Nick Castellanos had some fun on Saturday, particularly in the ninth inning.
Trailing 2-0, he worked a seven-pitch walk to open the final frame. He then moved to second base on a wild pitch and advanced to third on an Alec Bohm single.
With runners on the corners, no outs, and left-handed hitter Brandon Marsh at the plate, the Reds shifted the infield pulling third baseman Spencer Steer away from third base. The shift allowed Castellanos to take a significant lead, dancing off third base while creeping closer to home.
At one point, he appeared to be a tad more than halfway down the line.
"I was going to get as much as I was allowed to get. It was far," Castellanos said. "I don't know if I was ever that far [before]. At one point, I was like, 'I'm pretty close to home right now.'"
Reliever Alex Diaz eventually felt compelled to chase Castellanos back to third. Two pitches later, Marsh roped an RBI single to right, scoring Castellanos and bringing the Phillies to within a run. Edmundo Sosa followed with a sacrifice-fly to even the contest, then Bryson Stott delivered a walk-off single to give the Phillies a momentous 3-2 victory at Citizens Bank Park.
"Everyone was standing and it was so loud -- it kind of felt like October again," Stott said. "Just the way they showed up and got into the game -- it doesn't help the pitcher at all. You saw him step off and looked like he was going to run at Nick. I think he was just trying to calm things down. But here, I don't think that really works."
Though Stott had the winning hit, Castellanos and his antics to agitate Diaz fed the rally.
"There's plenty of ways to win games other than just hitting the ball out of the park," Castellanos said. " ... We just had to find a way -- any way -- that we could to get it done. Sometimes, you have to play small ball, work a walk and take your hits."
Bailey Falter tossed five frames for the Phillies, surrendering one run on four hits. Andrew Bellatti, Conor Brogdon, and Seranthony Dominguez tossed a scoreless inning each in relief.
Steer put the Reds up in the first with a solo blast. Jake Fraley added a sacrifice-fly in the ninth for Cincinatti's second run.
