Nick Castellanos struck the 250th home run of his career in the eighth inning to guide the Philadelphia Phillies to an emphatic 8-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field in Arizona on Friday night.
It is also understood to be his first home run since August 17.
Having come off the bench as a pinch-hitter in the sixth inning, the two-time All-Star also produced a run-scoring single in the ninth. As per MLB.com, this marked the first time in Castellanos’ career that he had two or more RBIs in a game coming off the bench.
However, Castellanos does not seem much bothered about all these, and instead, he wants to focus on earning the World Series ring for the Phillies. “I’m here to do whatever I can to make sure that Philadelphia wins a World Series ring. So whatever that goal looks like, just do the best I can with that,” Castellanos was quoted as saying by MLB.com.
Castellanos on limited role for Phillies
According to The Athletic, Castellanos featured in all 162 games last season, and the 33-year-old was a regular for the Phillies in 2025. While talking about no longer being an everyday player for the Phillies, Castellanos said, as per MLB.com, “It’s still like brand new, right? Like, I’m just making stuff up as I go along. Some days I don’t do anything. Some days I go out for batting practice. It’s just kind of how I feel.”
When asked how disappointed he is at not being able to play every day, Castellanos said, “That’s a controversial question, so I’m going to skip that.”
This season, Castellanos is batting .255 with 17 home runs, 69 RBIs, and a .710 OPS, and he has been batting .213 with seven homers, 24 RBI,s and a .606 OPS since the start of July, as per mlb.com. The victory against the Diamondbacks marked the Phillies’ 12th win in their past 16 games and improved to 92-62 on the season.