Philadelphia (AP) — Nick Castellanos hit a walk-off, bases-loaded single in the ninth inning, Kyle Schwarber homered, and the Philadelphia Phillies rallied for a 4-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday.
Alec Bohm added an RBI for the Phillies, who improved to.500.
“It felt great because I knew it was good enough to be a sacrifice fly,” Castellanos told reporters.
Oneil Cruz hit a home run for Pittsburgh.
Schwarber led off the ninth with a single to right against Jose Hernandez (1-1), and Trea Turner walked, putting runners on first and second with no outs. Both advanced after an errant pitch.
Hernandez struck out Bryce Harper for the first out, and Pirates manager Derek Shelton replaced Hernandez with Roansy Contreras. Pittsburgh deliberately walked Bohm to load the bases before Castellanos drilled a first-pitch, 95-mph fastball over center fielder Jack Suwinski.
Castellanos is off to a poor start and has raised his average to.182. He simplified things for his final at-bat.
“I didn’t have an approach,” he admitted. “I was just about to hit. I just wanted to win this game, man. See the ball, then hit it. I had a chance to win the game, and it made me return to that simplicity.”
Jeff Hoffman (2-0) delivered a 1-2-3 ninth inning to conclude an outstanding performance by Philadelphia’s relievers, who struck out seven, walked one, and allowed one hit in five scoreless innings in relief of starter Spencer Turnbull.
“Thank God I have a great team behind me,” he added. “They were electric tonight.”
The game took place on a frigid, windy day in Philadelphia, with a game-time temperature of 60 degrees, yet supporters were dressed in sweatshirts, jackets, and hoodies that looked and felt more like a November football game.
Philadelphia tied it in the seventh inning on Bohm’s one-out RBI single off Aroldis Chapman, who worked through four batters. Chapman, who was having control troubles, walked Schwarber to start the inning. Schwarber advanced to second on a passed ball that had initially been scored on a wild pitch and was moving toward third on Turner’s groundout. Chapman walked Harper, putting runners on first and third before Bohm singled.
Ke’Bryan Hayes’ RBI double in the first inning gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead. Schwarber opened the bottom of the inning with a drive to deep left-center, his 33rd career leadoff home run and 20th with the Phillies.
“Just too much of the plate,” Pirates left-hander Marco Gonzales said of the pitch.
Philadelphia took the lead later in the first when Castellanos hit an RBI single.
Cruz gave the Pirates a 3-2 lead in the fifth inning with a two-run blast to the opposite field in left against Turnbull.
Gonzales pitched six solid innings, allowing two runs on six hits. He’s got a 2.65 ERA after three starts.
“Just confidence, confidence in our game plan,” that’s what he stated.
After Turnbull allowed three runs in four innings and three hitters, Matt Strahm, Gregory Soto, José Alvarado, and Hoffman held Pittsburgh scoreless.
The game paused in the eighth inning as Soto struggled with the audio communication device in his cap. Finally, after three separate mound trips and three different devices, second baseman Edmundo Sosa lent Soto his device, and the game continued.
