Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images
Castellanos’ sliding catch allowed the Phillies to send Game 1 to extra inning, where they came away with a win.
The Phillies haven’t been especially known for their defense, but in Game 1 of the World Series against the Astros, it was what saved them.
After falling down 5-0, the Phillies rallied back to tie the game, turning it into a battle of the bullpens. The teams kept matching each other and putting up zeroes, leaving it still tied for the bottom of the ninth. There, Houston got a golden chance for a walk-off when when Jose Altuve singled and stole second on an extremely close play at first.
That brought Astros rookie and ALCS MVP Jeremy Peña to the plate. On the third pitch of his at-bat, he hit a fly ball that looked destined to drop in and give Houston a Game 1 win. Enter Nick Castellanos.
His sliding catch ended the inning and saved the game for the Phillies, as Altuve would’ve easily scored had it fallen in. The importance of the catch became even more clear when the 10th inning began.
Leading off the 10th inning for Philadelphia was catcher J.T. Realmuto, who delivered a home run to give the Phillies their first lead of the game.
The Phillies actually missed out on a chance to add onto their advantage, leading to an extremely nervy bottom of the 10th. With one out in the inning, the Astros’ Alex Bregman double off the wall off Phillies’ reliever David Robertson. A walk and a wild pitch then put both the tying and winning runs in scoring position for Houston. However, Robertson bounced back to get the last two outs, including a huge strikeout of Kyle Tucker, who already had two home runs in the game.
The win sees the Phillies take a 1-0 lead in the series. Not many times this season has it been their defense that’s won them games, but in Game 1 of the World Series it really helped them do just that.
