By KEVIN COONEY Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Nick Castellanos hit a bloop ground-rule double down the right field line to cap four consecutive ninth-inning hits and the Philadelphia Phillies rallied from a two-run deficit for a 4-3 win over the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night.
“When we have the heart of the lineup coming up (in the ninth inning), we know that we’re in it …” Castellanos said. “A one-run lead on the other side against us in the ninth inning probably doesn’t feel safe. And when we get our leadoff guy on, it makes it that much more difficult for the pitcher.”
Kyle Schwarber hit an eighth inning solo home run for the Phillies, who can finish off a season series sweep over San Diego on Wednesday.
“These guys never quit,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “They just keep going.”
The Padres have now lost five in a row and will try to avoid going winless on their six-game East Coast trip.
“It really hurts,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “We scratched and clawed and did everything that we possibly could to win the game. It just wasn’t good enough.”
Jeff Hoffman (3-0) got the win while the Padres’ Robert Suarez (4-1) blew his first save in 19 opportunities this season.
Luis Campusano had a two-run homer off Aaron Nola to kick start San Diego’s sixth inning that gave the team a 3-1 lead.
Schwarber’s homer with two outs in the eighth cut the deficit to 3-2. After getting the last out of the eighth inning, Suarez faced Harper — who hit the series-clinching homer off him in Game 5 of the 2022 National League Championship Series — for the first time since that October night.
Harper responded with a single, went first to third on Alec Bohm’s single, and scored the tying run on Bryson Stott’s opposite field single.
“Whenever he is on the mound, you are going to think back to that (’22) moment,” Harper said. “But we just wanted to get something over the plate and get the inning going. He’s really good and to be able to jump on him when we did with a few hits in a row, that’s huge.”
Castellanos sent a ball down the line that eluded David Peralta, sneaking just inside the chalk line before bouncing into the stands.
“By watching the way it was coming down, I knew that it was going to stay fair,” said Castellanos, who had his third walk-off hit of the season. “It was just a matter of whether he was going to catch it or not.”
Nola retired the first 13 hitters in order and had faced the minimum amount of hitters through five after a strikeout/caught stealing double play ended the fifth. But after issuing a leadoff walk to Peralta to start the sixth, Campusano lofted a fastball to center that just got over the outstretched glove of Cristian Pache to give San Diego a 2-1 lead.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Phillies: J.T. Realmuto met the media for the first time since having meniscus surgery on his right knee last Wednesday, reaffirming the original timeline that the club provided last week on the veteran catcher.
“I had this exact same procedure done in 2019 after the season and I was able to recover from that pretty quickly,” Realmuto said. “I would imagine around that four-week mark should be around that timing.”
Realmuto — who is hitting .261 with seven homers and 20 RBIs — said the original injury occurred when he slipped rounding the bases on a triple during wet field conditions on May 4 against San Francisco. After trying to play through the pain, Realmuto and Phillies officials decided to have the cleanout procedure following the team’s trip to London two weeks ago.
Garrett Stubbs and Rafael Marchan are starting in Realmuto’s place.
UP NEXT
Philadelphia will send LHP Ranger Suárez (10-1, 1.77 ERA) up against San Diego RHP Matt Waldron (4-6, 3.66) on Wednesday in the series finale.