Phillies have a little fun with José Castillo's return to the mound to secure a win against Diamondbacks

Lochlahn March, The Philadelphia Inquirer on May 2, 2025

Published in Baseball

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PHILADELPHIA — 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 him a rough welcome back, sending the first pitch he saw 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 what would be a 3-2 win over the Arizona.

Castillo, who had been called up on Thursday, was also hit hard by Nick Castellanos and J.T. Realmuto, with fly balls that just stayed inside the park for outs.

On the other hand, 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.

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.

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.

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 was responsible for one of those 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.

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.

The nine hits Luzardo allowed are a season-high. He struck out six.

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.