PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio, 94WIP) — After a disappointing regular season, Nick Castellanos has come through in a massive way in Tuesday's Game 1 of the NLDS, powering the Philadelphia Phillies to a 7-6 win in the first game of the best-of-five National League Division Series.
He started off 3-3 with a double, knocking in three of the Phillies' six runs in the first four innings. All of Castellanos' three RBIs came with two outs. He also scored a run.
Castellanos went 0-2 in his next two at-bats but made a huge diving catch with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning and the score 7-6, right after the Braves' Matt Olson hit a three-run homer.
Castellanos, 30, signed a 5-year, $100 million contract with the Phils this offseason and was a major disappointment throughout the regular season hitting just .263 with 13 home runs and a career-low .694 OPS.
"Casty" made up for it Tuesday.
The Phillies also got key offense from an RBI single by Alec Bohm in the first inning, a sacrifice fly by Bohm and a Jean Segura RBI single in the third inning, plus an Edmundo Sosa sacrifice fly in the fifth.
The second game of the series comes Wednesday at 4:35 p.m. in Atlanta.