Phillies’ clutch bats jump on D-backs’ best arm in another Game 1 tone-setter – NBC Sports Philadelphia

After the Phillies were gutted by watching an eminently winnable Game 2 of their National League Division Series vanish without a trace into a dark Atlanta night a week ago, rightfielder Nick Castellanos made an observation that could also serve as a mission statement for the team’s entire season.

“We thrive when we get punched in the face,” he said.

Since then the Phillies have won three straight. They took care of business by beating the Diamondbacks, 5-3, in the opener of the National League Championship Series at Citizens Bank Park.

During that stretch, they’ve been the punchers instead of the punchees. They haven’t trailed since, not even for an inning. And while it’s difficult for a team to slug its way to a world championship, so far this October the Phils have outhomered their opponents, 16-4, including solo shots by Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper in the first and Castellanos in the second against D-backs ace Zac Gallen on Monday night.

Now it’s Arizona whose mettle will be tested. The only thing hotter than the 103-degree high in Phoenix on Monday was the Diamondbacks, who swept through the first two rounds of the playoffs against the Brewers and Dodgers without breaking much of a sweat. The thing that Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto found most “daunting” about facing them, he said before Sunday’s workout, was the momentum they brought with them.

That momentum ran into a brick wall that bore an uncanny resemblance to Phillies righthander Zack Wheeler.

It wasn’t just that, though.

It also wasn’t just the culture shock of going from the desert to a chilly Northeastern October evening when the temperature was 55 and falling when the game started. Not just the raucous sellout of 45,396 that was more amped up than usual (if that’s even possible) by the first pitches being thrown out by local national champion basketball coaches Jay Wright and Dawn Staley. By seeing that Eagles center Jason Kelce and his brother Travis, the Chiefs tight end and occasional Taylor Swift escort, were in the house. By a surprise appearance after the fifth from country music superstar Tim McGraw whose father, Tug, got the save when the Phillies won their first World Series in 1980.

It was the way the Phillies’ big thumpers jumped all over Gallen early.

Three batters into the bottom of the first, the Phils had the lead on solo homers by Schwarber and Harper, both coming on first-pitch fastballs.

“It just gets the crowd, you know, wow,” said Schwarber, who had been dormant through the first two rounds of the postseason. “Talk about a fun crowd where you round the bases, you’re looking around and you’re seeing a frenzy. It can put an extra layer onto what the atmosphere is already.

“Then Harp follows up with another home run and it adds on another layer.”

Realmuto said the first pitch thrown to Schwarber is his favorite part of every home game. “You can either see that he’s right on something or the pitcher’s scared to throw something in the strike zone,” he explained. “Either way, that sets a good tone for our lineup.”

Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said he thought the Phillies “ambushed” Gallen early in the counts. “I think they came out ready to jump on his fastball,” he said. “There’s no mystery that Zac fills up the zone. He has an aggressive mindset and they just counter-punched him. I don’t think he was trying to throw those pitches where they landed. Those were just mistakes, misfired pitches.”

Harper, who turned 31 Monday and celebrated by holding up three fingers of his left hand and one on his right as he crossed the plate and then pretended to blow them out as if they were candles, said it wasn’t a matter of intending to swing at the first pitch regardless.

“It was just trying not to miss ones over the plate because when you get deep into counts against (Gallen) he’s really tough to hit,” he explained. “Schwarber, big swing there, kind of gets the crowd and the vibe going and gets us into it. I thought that was really good.”

Harper, who had an RBI single in his second at-bat and walked and scored a run his third time up, is batting .409 this postseason with a 1.522 OPS. He has four homers in and seven RBI in seven games.

Said Schwarber: “This guy, he’s looking for the moment. When he’s going up to the plate you’re just thinking he’s going to do something special every single time. Can that be an unfair expectation? Sure. But that’s what everyone in the dugout is thinking. Man, what’s this guy going to do next?”

All of that nearly overshadowed the fact that Castellanos, who waited for the third pitch he saw in the second to pick on a fastball, has now hit five homers in his last three games.

“It’s just keeping his head still, staying behind the baseball and letting it travel,” manager Rob Thomson said. “When he’s really good, he’s driving the ball to right-center field like he did (in this game). He’s on a tear righty now. Knock on wood he keeps it going.”

Heavyweight championship Mike Tyson once famously noted that everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.

The Phillies punched the Diamondbacks in the face Monday night. Another loss in Game 2 would put them on the ropes in the best-of-seven series.

“I think overall you didn’t see the best Arizona Diamondbacks team,” Lovullo said after the game. “We need to regroup the troops and come out and play our best game (Tuesday). We’ve got to sleep on it and understand what we did right and what we did wrong and be ready to play another baseball game.

“And we will.”