MLB playoffs: Nick Castellanos helps Phillies beat Mets in wild Game 2

PHILADELPHIA — As is often the case, Bryce Harper showed the Philadelphia Phillies a path to victory Sunday. But it was the oft-criticized Nick Castellanos who took the Phillies over the finish line.

Castellanos singled home the decisive run in the bottom of the ninth, lifting Philadelphia over the New York Mets 7-6 in Game 2 of their National League Division Series.

Castellanos, who went 3-for-5 with a homer, lined a 1-2 offering from reliever Tylor Megill (0-1) into left, scoring Trea Turner and ending a game that saw 11 runs scored over the last four innings.

At one point the Mets led 3-0, only to see the Phillies tie it on back-to-back homers by Harper and Castellanos in the sixth. New York edged in front 4-3 on Brandon Nimmo’s solo homer the following inning, but Philadelphia pushed across three runs in the bottom of the eighth — two on Bryson Stott’s triple — to go up 6-4.

Mark Vientos tied it once more with a two-run homer in the top of the ninth, his second homer of the game.

Turner and Harper walked with two outs in the bottom of the inning, setting the stage for Castellanos and enabling the Phillies to tie the best-of-five series at one game apiece. The next two games will be played Tuesday and Wednesday in New York.

Castellanos has drawn the fans’ ire for his undisciplined approach at the plate since arriving in Philadelphia as a free agent in March 2022, and was booed after going hitless in his first two at-bats Sunday.

“I was just frustrated,” he said, “so I locked in more.”

He called the feeling after his walk-off hit “the best,” and said it will endure “even when I’m old and no one cares about me as a baseball player.”

Harper awakened the Phillies, who after losing Game 1 on Saturday were blanked over the first five innings by Mets starter Luis Severino. Down 3-0, Turner singled with two outs in the sixth, and Harper sent Severino’s 99 mph fastball soaring over the center field wall, a majestic 431-foot blast.

Castellanos followed with a solo homer to left, knotting the score at 3-3.

Nimmo’s solo shot in the seventh set the stage for another comeback in the eighth.

Harper drew a one-out walk from Mets reliever Edwin Diaz, then advanced to third on a single by Castellanos. Stott tripled home both runners, then scored on J.T. Realmuto’s fielder’s choice to make it 6-4.

But in the top of the ninth, Vientos, who went 3-for-4, struck again. His two-run homer off Matt Strahm tied it one last time.

Padres crush Dodgers, even series

LOS ANGELES — Fernando Tatis Jr. hit two home runs as the visiting San Diego Padres went deep six times and evened the National League Division Series with a 10-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 2 on Sunday.

Tatis hit home runs in the first and ninth innings, while former Dodger David Peralta hit one in the second. Jackson Merrill and Xander Bogaerts hit back-to-back blasts in the eighth, while Kyle Higashioka also hit one in the ninth.

Right-hander Yu Darvish (1-0) gave up one run on three hits with two walks and three strikeouts over seven innings as the Padres head home for Game 3 on Tuesday.

Shohei Ohtani went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts for the Dodgers, who had five hits and lost for the seventh time in eight playoff games over the past three seasons, including an NLDS defeat to the Padres in 2022. The top three spots in the Dodgers’ order combined to go 0-for-12.

Dodgers right-hander Jack Flaherty (0-1) gave up four runs on five hits over 5 1/3 innings. He struck out two and walked one.

Tatis gave San Diego a 1-0 lead in the first inning with a home run to left field. The Padres made it 3-0 in the second on Peralta’s first career playoff home run.

Padres left-fielder Jurickson Profar robbed Mookie Betts of a home run in the first inning, reaching into the crowd in the left field corner to make the catch. The Dodgers loaded the bases in the second inning with nobody out, but scored just once on a sacrifice fly from Gavin Lux.

The San Diego defense was at it again in the fourth. Tatis made a leaping catch while on the run in right-center on a drive from Freddie Freeman and Luis Arraez corralled Max Muncy’s hard-hit one-hopper.

Freeman departed after five innings with right ankle discomfort.

After tempers flared on both sides in the sixth inning when Flaherty hit Tatis with a pitch, the Padres took a 4-1 lead on an RBI single from Merrill.

Multiple baseballs were thrown on the field before the bottom of the seventh, causing a delay and stoking the ire of Profar. Merrill and Bogaerts then sealed the win, hitting consecutive homers in the eighth for a 7-1 lead.

Higashioka hit his third homer of the postseason in the ninth and Tatis hit his second of the game two batters later.

Muncy hit a home run for the Dodgers in the ninth.