New state of play — and playing time — pays off for Phillies, as outfield trio leads romp over Marlins

MIAMI — If Nick Castellanos, iron man-turned-part-timer, was going to get back in the Phillies’ lineup against a right-handed pitcher, it was surely Friday night with the Marlins using a three-inning opener.

Yet here was Castellanos, stapled to the bench.

“Those three guys right now,” manager Rob Thomson said before the game, citing Harrison Bader, lefty-hitting Brandon Marsh, and Max Kepler, “are swinging the bats good.”

True, and relative to Castellanos, in particular. And right on cue, Kepler, Marsh, and Bader raised their bats to outfield meritocracy, each clubbing homers in a 9-3 romp behind seven innings from Cristopher Sánchez that felt as light and airy as the ocean breeze on Miami Beach.

» READ MORE: Nick Castellanos says the Phillies’ outfield rotation is ‘a big adjustment.’ Rob Thomson gets his frustrations.

“I think [it’s been] great,” Kepler said of the new state of play — and playing time — in the outfield. “Everyone’s gelling together and stringing together good at-bats, playing solid defense, and most importantly, just having fun.”

The good times are certainly rolling. The Phillies (82-59) won for the sixth time in eight games. And as another day fell off the regular-season calendar, they maintained a six-game lead over the Mets (76-65) in the NL East and moved four games ahead of the Dodgers (78-63) in the race for a postseason bye.

All with their $20 million right fielder idling in the dugout.

Castellanos batted .180 with a .509 OPS and only three RBIs in August, part of a season-long drop in his production. But he has a long track record of following cold spells with scorching streaks, and in the past, Thomson has allowed him to swing his way out of slumps.

Why not now?

Consider what the alternatives have done since Aug. 1:

So, although Marlins opener Valente Bellozo is hardly Sandy Alcantara, the former Cy Young winner who will start here Saturday, Thomson stuck with the hotter hitters, notably Kepler in right field in Castellanos’ place.

A few months ago, it was Kepler who lost playing time as a consequence of inadequate production. He complained that he didn’t sign with the Phillies to be a part-time player. But after talking with Thomson, he readjusted his sights.

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“I had to accept and swallow the ego and understand that this is for the big picture to win a World Series,” Kepler said. “You have to be a piece of the puzzle. And on days where I wasn’t playing, I just did as much as I could when it came to swinging to stay locked in visually and just feeling good in my swing as opposed to in the past where I would have days off and just sit and relax and recover.

“Now, with more off days, you have so much energy, so I’m really out there like almost competing against whoever is throwing [batting practice] and trying to make a game to stay locked in.”

Kepler has carried that work into games. In his first at-bat against Bellozo, Kepler jumped on a changeup and smashed it into the third deck in right field to open a 2-0 lead in the second inning.

Like Kepler, Marsh plays primarily against righties. And in the fourth inning, he fouled off two full-count pitches from reliever Luke Bachar before driving a hittable fastball out to right field on the ninth pitch of the at-bat.

“I was lucky enough to see both of his breaking balls and kind of really got into a grind,” Marsh said. “I just told myself, ‘Don’t get beat by a heater here and make something else beat you,’ and it just worked out good.”

Said Thomson: “One of the better at-bats you’ll see.”

Bader has given the Phillies good at-bats since coming over at the trade deadline. And he followed Marsh by pulling a slider to left field for a 5-1 lead.

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The Phillies tacked on four runs in the seventh inning, and again, the outfielders stirred the offense. With Marsh and Bader on base, Kepler drove them both in by banging a single to right field, then scored on Bryson Stott’s three-run homer.

Sánchez, meanwhile, cruised through seven innings with his sinker-changeup combination. He allowed one run on six hits and struck out five batters to lower his ERA to 2.60.

And Trea Turner continued his MVP push with four hits to lift his league-leading average to .305.

But the offense ran through Kepler, Marsh, and Bader, who contributed four hits, scored six runs, and drove in five.

“Kepler good at-bat, Bader good at-bat, we tried to feed off each other,” Marsh said. “We had a lot of fun today.”

Thomson insists he isn’t forgetting about Castellanos. He plans on playing him at least once over the weekend in preparation for next week’s four-game showdown with the Mets. They will start two lefties in that series, which means Castellanos will be in the lineup at least twice.

Even so, it’s been a stark change. A year ago, Castellanos became the first Phillies player to start 162 games since Jimmy Rollins in his MVP 2007 season. Three months ago, his consecutive-game streak ended at 236 games when Thomson benched him for an inappropriate comment after being replaced for defense.

And now, he’s another piece in a five-outfielder rotation in which playing time will be determined by performance.

“I feel like we have a really strong outfield,” Marsh said. “I feel like we can just run anyone out there and have a really good opportunity to win.”