Castellanos Goes Red Hot as Philadelphia Phillies Cruise to Victory Over Cincinnati

Facing his former team in 2022, Nick Castellanos is 7-for-18 with four extra base hits, two of which are home runs. It raises the question: where has this Castellanos been all year?

He reared his face again Monday night, getting the scoring started leading off the bottom of the second. Castellanos' home run off Cincinnati Reds' bullpen starter Luis Cessa landed 436 feet from home plate in dead-center field.

That ball would have incurred bonus time at the Home Run Derby.

Not to be outdone, Bryson Stott came to the plate next and belted his own mammoth blast. Cessa's low and inside fastball ended up in the second deck right field seats, just above Stott's own face on the auxiliary scoreboard at Citizens Bank Park.

Those would be the only two runs the Philadelphia Phillies needed that night, as Noah Syndergaard cruised through seven easy innings against a very weak Reds' lineup.

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Syndergaard allowed only three hits and two walks. One of each came in the second inning, so from innings three through seven, the Phillies' starter allowed only three baserunners.

However, one of those runners came on a ball crushed deep into the left field seats by Austin Romine in the fifth inning. It only cut Cincinnati's deficit to two, as Philadelphia had added an insurance run in the bottom of the third.

With catcher J.T. Realmuto on first, and the scorching hot bat of Castellanos at the plate, the former Red drove an outside fastball for a double down the right field line.

Getting to it quickly was right fielder Jake Fraley. His defense could have prevented Realmuto from scoring, yet Fraley's throw to third base behind the Phillie-catcher allowed Realmuto to make the turn and score easily.

Later in the fifth, Realmuto added another run, this time with his bat instead of his legs. Already with two hits on the night — he would have three by game's end — Alec Bohm stood on first with two out.

Realmuto crushed a ball into the right-centerfield gap, just hard and low enough to nullify the effects of a steady wind blowing in from Ashburn Alley. Bohm scored easily from first.

Sam Coonrod and Andrew Bellatti pitched a clean eighth and ninth, allowing only one baserunner between the two of them.

The Phillies improved to 67-55, 12 games over .500. They are tied with the San Diego Padres and 1.5 games above the Milwaukee Brewers for the bottom two Wild Cards spots.

The Phillies face Nick Lodolo Tuesday evening, looking to right the ship after the Reds' rookie shut them out for seven innings last Wednesday.

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