2023-10-04 15:49:12
PHILADELPHIA — Nick Castellanos gave the finger. The annulling, of course. It’s not that the player wanted to star in an inappropriate moment at the beginning of the postseason.
Still, millions of people briefly mistook the finger and interpreted Castellanos as having made an obscene sign. In fact, he showed his ring finger toward the Phillies’ jubilant dugout, to send the message that the defending National League champions covet the ring that Houston deprived them of in the last World Series.
“That’s why we’re playing this month,” he said.
Zack Wheeler fanned eight in a sensational job, Venezuelan José Alvarado preserved the lead with a tremendous strikeout and Philadelphia beat the Miami Marlins 4-1 on Tuesday, starting their wild card series.
Castellanos contributed the emblematic moment of the match, when he made the sign, after contributing a key double.
The gesture and performance of the Phillies showed the desire they have to take the step they were missing.
“As soon as I stepped foot out of the dugout to do the drills in the bullpen, the crowd went crazy and I got chills,” said Wheeler, who received the support needed to beat the Marlins.
Castellanos added an RBI double in the eighth inning to push Bryce Harper, who lost his helmet after continuing to run at full speed despite being told to stop in the third inning. The Phillies thus moved one win away from facing Atlanta in the division series.
“Bryce does that all the time, and miraculously gets to safety more times than he misses,” Castellanos said with a smile.
Craig Kimbrel finished the ninth scoreless inning, to credit the save.
For the Marlins, Venezuelan Luis Arráez is 4-1. The Cubans Jorge Soler 4-0, Yuli Gurriel 1-0. The Dominicans Bryan de la Cruz 4-1 with an RBI, Jesús Sánchez 2-1.
For the Phillies, Dominican Johan Rojas was 1-for-3 with one run scored.
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