Phillies win, 5-4, over New York Mets, Nick Castellanos sets career mark with 103rd RBI

As Ranger Suárez trudged away from the mound with two outs in the seventh inning and the Phillies leading by one run Thursday night, the crowd rose and cheered in appreciation.

Suárez, less impressed, halfheartedly tipped his cap.

If the point now, with nine regular-season games remaining and the Phillies closing in on a wild-card spot (magic number: five), is to sharpen everything for the playoffs, Suárez appeared to realize he has work to do.

Because despite pitching the Phillies to a 5-4 cuticle-chomper over the playing-out-the-string New York Mets on the strength of Nick Castellanos’ go-ahead homer and four RBIs, Suárez blew early 2-0 and 4-2 leads to make the series-opening victory tougher than it had to be.

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“The most important thing is that we won the game,” Suárez said through a team interpreter after the Phillies pushed their lead for the top National League wild card to three games over idle Arizona. “Even though they scored four runs on me, I still wanted to go deep into the game and just get my job done.”

Castellanos rode to the rescue once again, this time with his bat. He led off the sixth inning by banging the go-ahead home run off the facing of the upper deck in left field for his 103rd RBI, eclipsing his previous career-high of 101 with Detroit in 2017.

“To get 100 RBIs, that means that you’re taking a lot of at-bats, you’re playing a lot of games, and you’re driving in a lot of guys,” Castellanos said. “I think the two stats that I personally care about the best are how many times you touch home and how many times you help other people touch home.”

And relievers Craig Kimbrel and José Alvarado walked a tightrope in the eighth and ninth innings. Kimbrel put the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position but struck out Brett Baty. Alvarado gave up a one-out double but got 45-homer slugging Pete Alonso to chase a down-and-in cutter.

As Alonso stepped to the plate with first base open, manager Rob Thomson walked to the mound to chat with Alvarado.

“I wanted to make sure they had a plan against him and not be afraid to walk him,” Thomson said. “He went right after him. Did a great job.”

The Phillies will need Kimbrel and Alvarado to slam the door in the playoffs. But they’ll also need innings from Suárez, who probably will start the third postseason game after Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola.

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Suárez maintained that he was “happy with my work,” even if his body language on the way off the field indicated otherwise.

Staked to a 2-0 lead in the first inning, he gave up two runs in the second on a groundball double by Jeff McNeil and an RBI single through the middle by Baty. McNeil led off the fourth inning with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly.

And Mark Vientos ripped a dirt-diving changeup for a game-tying homer in the sixth.

“Honestly, I don’t think I could’ve executed a better pitch,” Suárez said. “But it’s part of the game.”

Said Thomson: “The home run that Vientos hit was a really good pitch. It was almost on the ground. He barreled it up somehow. I thought Ranger was really good.”

Suárez did lack some of the usual zip on his pitches, especially his signature sinker. And while it wasn’t a reason for concern, the lefty would surely prefer to not have to do more with less when he takes the mound in the postseason in two weeks.

“Locating my pitches and execute them well, that’s basically what I wanted to do,” Suárez said. “Honestly, I wanted to go deep in the game. That was real important for me. Even though they scored four runs, I felt pretty good.”

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One night after saving the Phillies from a walk-off loss in Atlanta by catching a fly ball in foul territory in right field, spinning, and firing a strike to the plate to cut down the winning run, Castellanos rode to the rescue again.

But this time, he did it with his bat.

Castellanos lined a two-out, two-run single in the first inning and lifted a sacrifice fly in the third before his game-winning homer for his 100th, 101st, 102nd, and 103rd RBIs. He improved to 16-for-48 with seven homers in 13 games since being dropped to the lower half of the batting order by Thomson.

“I think it’s just getting back to my foundation, just the things that I do every day and the mindset of just control what I can control and believe that it’s going to be good in the end if I can stay consistent,” Castellanos said. “Sure, it feels good.”

Kyle Schwarber (99 RBIs) and Alec Bohm (93 after a third-inning solo homer) are closing in on joining Castellanos in the 100-RBI club. The Phillies haven’t had three players with 100 RBIs in a season since 2005 (Pat Burrell, Chase Utley, Bobby Abreu).

Taijuan Walker (15-5, 4.40 ERA) is scheduled to face Mets righty Tylor Megill (8-8, 4.94) at 7:05 p.m. Friday. The Phillies will add Scott Rolen to their Wall of Fame in a pregame ceremony.

The game will stream exclusively on Apple TV+.