José Castillo hadn’t pitched in the major leagues since 2023 before he took the mound for the Arizona Diamondbacks in the seventh inning on Friday evening.
Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber gave the left-hander a rough welcome back, sending the first pitch he saw — a sinker on the inside corner — 398 feet to right-center for a game-tying home run. Two batters later, Max Kepler went deep to almost the same spot, putting the Phillies in front for the 3-2 win over Arizona.
“Haven’t faced the guy, and trying to get the information for what his ball’s going to play like,” Schwarber said. “And you’re trying to envision that in your head, where you want that ball to start. And it kind of started right where I was telling myself, ‘That’s a pitch that I need to go on,’ and I was able to put a good swing on it.”
Both homers were lefty-on-lefty. Castillo, who had been called up from the minors on Thursday, was also hit hard by Nick Castellanos and J.T. Realmuto, with fly balls that just stayed inside the park for outs.
“I usually try and approach lefties just like righties,” said Kepler, whose homer marked his first hit off a lefty since April 19. ”It just gets a little harder when you don’t get to see them as routinely as you do the righties.”
The Phillies’ bullpen, which had been a significant weakness early in the season, shut down the Diamondbacks to seal the win. Matt Strahm, Tanner Banks, Jordan Romano, and José Alvarado combined in relief to not allow a single run.
Collectively, the Phillies’ bullpen is riding an 11-inning scoreless streak dating back to Wednesday.
“Maybe they’re finding out about themselves, just settling in, getting into the right moments and feeling good about themselves,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “I think we taxed them a little bit early. They’re getting the proper rest right now. We’re throwing the ball well.”
Alvarado, who came in for the ninth inning after meeting fan Princeton Bailey before the game, was helped out by a spectacular catch from Johan Rojas. The center fielder snagged a well-hit fly ball from Lourdes Gurriel Jr. while on the run for the first out of the inning.
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Rojas slammed into the center field wall after making the catch, but remained in the game after being checked out by the Phillies’ training staff.
“I just saw the ball and ran to the wall because I knew he hit it hard,” said Rojas, who added that he felt fine after the collision. “I just said, ‘You have to run, and just go get it.’”
It had been a low-scoring affair before the homer barrage off Castillo. The Phillies plated a run in the first inning on a Trea Turner single followed by a Schwarber double, but didn’t get much going afterward.
The offense hit seven balls harder than 95 mph off Arizona starter Merrill Kelly, but only three of those fell for hits. Cal Stevenson, who started in center before being replaced by Rojas in the eighth, was responsible for one of those hits in the fifth, but Kelly picked him off.
The Diamondbacks put good at-bats on Phillies starter Jesús Luzardo to get his pitch count to tick up. The lefty needed 26 pitches to get through the second and 24 in the third.
He allowed Arizona to put two runners on in each of the first four innings, but managed to hold them to just one run in that span. Gurriel — who went 3-for-3 against Luzardo — doubled in the fourth, and Geraldo Perdomo drove him in with a single.
“I feel like a couple years back, I go out there, I would have just gone three or four [innings] max, and given up a lot more runs,” Luzardo said. “Throughout the season in general, even when I’m not my best, I feel like we’re able to weather the storm and make it work and try to save the bullpen as much as possible.”
After a quick fifth inning, Luzardo came back out for the sixth. He struck out Josh Naylor in three pitches and induced a fly ball to Gabriel Moreno, but Stevenson couldn’t come up with the catch on the center field warning track. A single from Gurriel scored Moreno and gave the Diamondbacks a 2-1 lead.
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Luzardo struck out six. The nine hits he allowed are a season-high, six of which came off fastballs.
“I felt really good with [my fastball], felt strong and felt like I had some good velo, I just didn’t have good command of it,” Luzardo said.
Strahm took over and gave up a first-pitch single, but got some good fortune with a popped-up bunt from Geraldo Perdomo that became an inning-ending double play.
The single was the only hit allowed by the bullpen on Friday. They did not issue any walks.
