Castellanos and Marsh shift momentum in Phillies’ massive series-opening comeback

Castellanos and Marsh shift momentum in Phillies’ massive series-opening comeback originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

They fell behind by four runs, they stranded the leadoff man in four of the first five innings and it looked for a while like they were headed toward a second straight shutout loss, but the Phillies’ lineup came roaring back in the bottom of the sixth and seventh to beat the Braves, 5-4, and start a pivotal four-game series on a high note.

For the second time in three games, Nick Castellanos delivered the game-changing swing. On Tuesday, it was a three-run homer off Justin Verlander. On Thursday, it was a game-winning two-run homer off right-handed reliever Grant Holmes with two outs in the seventh inning.

Castellanos has been money since the All-Star break. Over his last 40 games, he’s hit .293 with 12 doubles, a triple, seven homers and 30 RBI. Take it even farther back to Memorial Day and he’s hit .286 with an OPS well over .800.

The Phillies came into Thursday with a five-game lead over the Braves and knew that their advantage would be either one, three, five, seven or nine games depending on the result of the series. They now know that, at worst, they’ll end the weekend with a three-game lead.

“Down 4-0 in this type of series and the guys just kept coming,” manager Rob Thomson said. “I thought the at-bats were pretty good all night. We got Morton’s pitch count up pretty good, I don’t think we chased that much, six walks. They just kept battling.”

Brandon Marsh was just as instrumental in the win. The Phillies’ offense was lifeless for five innings, stranding four leadoff baserunners, three of whom reached scoring position. When Marsh stepped to the plate in the sixth inning, the Phils had gone 63 straight plate appearances without an extra-base hit and 14 straight innings without a run.

But after a brief mound visit, Charlie Morton finally paid for a lack of command. He walked four and hit a batter earlier in the game and left them all on base until Marsh finally broke through with a three-run homer to trim Atlanta’s lead to one and make it a game again.

“There wasn’t a lot of life at all, really, and that kinda jump-started everything,” Castellanos said.

Marsh homered and doubled, both to the opposite field. Thomson has talked all season about that being the key for him when he’s in a rut.

“He’s just using the field,” Thomson said. “I know he’s swinging and missing a little bit but he’s using the field and that’s his bread and butter. When he does that, he’s really good. It was huge, it got us back in the game, it got the stadium back in the game.”

Orion Kerkering picked up four important outs to maintain the momentum after Marsh’s longball and before Castellanos’. Kerkering retired the final batter of the sixth inning with two men on base, then went 1-2-3 through the top of the Braves’ order in the seventh.

The Phils moved Cristopher Sanchez back a day to start Thursday’s series opener. Sanchez matched up well with the Braves last week, delivering a quality start at Truist Park, and the team also wanted to give him extra time since he’s already exceeded his career-high in innings with at least a month of baseball left.

Starting after a full week off, Sanchez had a crisp fastball and his best changeup against the first seven hitters he faced but allowed a two-out RBI double in the top of the second and a monstrous 450-foot home run over the ivy wall in center field to Matt Olson in the third.

The runs were unearned because Trea Turner opened the inning with an error on a hard-hit groundball right to him from Whit Merrifield. Two games in a row, middle-infield defense cost the Phillies multiple runs. On Wednesday, Bryson Stott bobbled a sure-fire 4-6-3 double-play ball, extending the inning for a Yordan Alvarez homer.

Olson homered again off Sanchez to start the sixth. He had more homers in the span of three innings than lefties had vs. Sanchez in his entire major-league career (1) entering the night.

But Kerkering, Matt Strahm and Jeff Hoffman didn’t let the Braves generate anything else, retiring 10 of the 11 batters they faced.

The Phils are 79-55 with 28 games to go. The Braves are 73-61. Ranger Suarez, Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola are in line to start the next three nights opposite Reynaldo Lopez, lefty Max Fried and Spencer Schwellenbach.

Thanks to the positive shift in momentum midway through Thursday’s series opener, the Phillies have a chance to bury the Braves if they take care of business this weekend.

“It’s fun, man. It’s a high,” Castellanos said about the feeling of hitting a late go-ahead homer in front of a frenzied Citizens Bank Park crowd. “It’s a cool feeling when you have everybody stand up and show you love.”