Aaron Nola’s gem powers the Phillies past the Astros in Game 1 of their World Series rematch

HOUSTON — In the bottom of the first inning on Friday night, Alex Bregman hit a ball that traveled 346 feet. It seemed, at first, like it was gone. The Houston crowd was cheering like it was, and it technically went over the right-field wall. But before it could fall into a lucky fan’s glove, Nick Castellanos jumped, stretched out his arm, and robbed it.

He hit the wall, fell to the ground, and stayed there for a moment. By now, the cheers had subsided. As he jogged off the field, Castellanos let out a laugh. That might have been the catch of the season, and it came from a player who is not known for his defense.

It was a gutsy play in a gutsy 3-1 win, and Castellanos relished it. A few minutes before the game, the Astros’ mascot, Orbit, put on a faux World Series ring a few feet away from the visiting dugout. The Phillies’ right fielder took note.

“To say that we all don’t understand what happened here last year would be a lie,” Castellanos said. “We know that. We just had their mascot stick their World Series ring in our face on the Jumbotron. I don’t know about everybody else, but I pay attention to that stuff.

“Being able to make that play here, against the team that beat us in the Fall Classic, definitely feels good. Running in across the field and being booed after making that catch, feels good.”

It also felt good because it was an entirely new experience. Castellanos had made plays at the wall before, but he’d never robbed a home run in his 11-year career. The defensive metrics have not treated him kindly. He was minus-8 in defensive runs saved in right field last season.

But he has put the work in. After making some highlight-reel catches last postseason, Castellanos decided to raise his own standard for how he plays defense. This winter, he met with first base coach Paco Figueroa to put in some extra work on his fielding.

“He really stressed just attacking the baseball,” Castellanos said. “You know? Running after it. Attacking it. Not coasting it. Running after it with intent.”

Castellanos has brought that mindset into 2023. He told Figueroa at the beginning of the year to hold him to a high standard. He has held himself to it, too.

“Playing in the playoffs last year definitely heightened my focus on defense to where it wasn’t before, just by how magnified all of the games were,” Castellanos said. “Now that I’ve felt that before, there’s a new level of accountability I can have for myself.”

The Astros, understandably, did not make this an easy win for the Phillies. In the top of the first inning, Kyle Schwarber hit a solo home run off of Astros starter Framber Valdez to give his team an early 1-0 lead, but Aaron Nola gave up a solo home run to Jeremy Peña to tie it, 1-1, in the bottom of the frame.

Nola settled in after that. His fastball was averaging about 92 mph, but he began throwing his secondary pitches for strikes as the game went on. He retired his next 11 batters before a leadoff single in the fifth. Trea Turner’s throwing error then put runners on first and third with no outs. It could have been costly, but thanks to Nola and some questionable baserunning by Jose Abreu, it wasn’t. As Jake Meyers reached first base out a fielder’s choice, Alec Bohm threw home to catcher J.T. Realmuto, who tagged Abreu for the first out.

Nola then induced a flyout from Rylan Bannon for the second out, and Martín Maldonado was called out on strikes for the third.

Nola didn’t allow a baserunner after that. He pitched eight innings, allowing three hits, one run, and no walks, with six strikeouts. It was the deepest a Phillie has pitched all season. José Alvarado delivered a 1-2-3 inning to earn the save in the ninth.

“Noles just seemed to get better and better as the game went on,” manager Rob Thomson said. “The seventh inning was so quick that I just made sure he was OK to go out in the eighth, and he shut it right down. It was huge because we had a few guys down tonight. That was heaven-sent.”

» READ MORE: Friday’s Phillies-Astros game won’t be on NBC Sports Philadelphia. Neither will Sunday’s.

The Phillies needed those types of performances from Nola, Castellanos, and Alvarado. There wasn’t much margin for error on Friday. There rarely is against a team like the Astros. The Phillies made hard contact off of Valdez all night but mustered just eight hits and three runs off of him.

But they found other ways to win in a place that represents some “uncomfortable memories,” in Castellanos’ words. It was only 174 days ago that the Phillies saw their World Series dreams vanquished in this same ballpark. But if you didn’t know that, you wouldn’t have guessed it heading into Friday’s game.

After hitting an RBI double in the top of the fifth, Cristian Pache took a lead off second and slipped on the dirt. It looked like his knee buckled on him. He was examined by the Phillies’ training staff and exited the game with a right knee injury. Thomson said that Pache saw a doctor on Friday night.

“I’m not too concerned, because he kept saying, ‘I’m good, I’m good, I’m good,’” Thomson said. “And I said ‘No, we’re going to get you out of here.’ Just precautionary.”