Carlos Estévez once got hit with a hot dog at the Bank. Now he’s loving the ‘different energy’ he feels as a Phillie.

Estevez knew Philadelphia was different from his days as an opponent. Now that he’s on the other side with the first-place Phillies, he wants back in on the playoff experience.

The Phillies acquired reliever Carlos Estevez in a trade deadline deal with the Angels.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

by Alex Coffey

Published Sept. 4, 2024, 10:38 a.m. ET

TORONTO — Almost exactly three years ago, on Sept. 12, 2021, Carlos Estévez was warming up in the visitors’ bullpen with the Rockies at Citizens Bank Park, when he saw a silver projectile whizzing toward his head. After it hit him, he realized what it was.

”It was a hot dog,” Estévez said. “I got smoked. I was like, ‘Was that a wienie? This place is insane.’”

Estévez hadn’t exactly endeared himself to the locals. A few days before he was struck by cased meat, some fans overheard him talking to bullpen catcher Aaron Muñoz. It was Sept. 9, and the Rockies were down 2-1 to the Phillies entering the ninth inning.

There was no guarantee Estévez would pitch, but he told Muñoz to start catching him anyway.

Then, he loudly made a prediction.

“I’m coming in the game,” he said. “Because they’re going to throw a curveball, and Ryan McMahon is going to hit a homer.”

Sure enough, Ian Kennedy threw McMahon a knuckle curve, which McMahon launched to right field for a two-run home run. Sam Hilliard hit a home run in the next at-bat to give the Rockies a 4-2 lead.

Boos began to rain down on Estévez. These were not normal boos.

“They were like, ‘You jinxed us, you [stink], man!’ Estévez said. “‘You don’t do that to a pitcher!’ And then as I’m coming down the steps, ‘BOO!’”

The right-handed reliever, who was acquired by the Phillies from the Angels on July 27, tells this story with a laugh. It’s funny to him because that same passion — which was once a source of grief — is now a source of fuel.

Estevéz, 31, is in his eighth season, but he has never pitched in a place like Philadelphia. He spent six seasons with the Rockies and was in his second with the Angels when he was traded to the Phillies. He made only one postseason appearance over that span, in a 2017 National League wild-card game.

He didn’t pitch a full inning. Estévez entered in the eighth and faced two Diamondbacks hitters: Ketel Marte and Paul Goldschmidt. He allowed a single to Goldschmidt and was charged an earned run, but he was hooked.

“The playoffs are like the drug of sports, you know?” Estévez said. “I was like, ‘I need to be here again.’”

He’ll most likely get that chance this year, in a playoff environment as raucous as any other. Estévez has already gotten a preview of what it’ll be like. On Sunday, he pitched a 1-2-3 inning against the Braves in the 10th, without allowing the ghost runner to score.

It took only eight pitches, but manager Rob Thomson approached Estévez in the dugout to check on him about the 11th.

“Are you good to go back out?” Thomson asked. “You pitched yesterday.”

Estévez didn’t recall.

“I was like, ‘Oh [expletive], yeah, I guess I did pitch yesterday,’” he said. “But I told him, ‘I’m fine. I feel good. I don’t care. Just give me the baseball. I’m fine.’”

Thomson obliged, and Estévez rewarded him for it. He induced two groundouts with one strikeout, and let out an emotional yell as he walked off the field.

A half inning later, Estévez watched from the dugout as Nick Castellanos won the game, 3-2, on an RBI single. He celebrated on the field with his teammates while 43,249 fans went ballistic around them. He didn’t take it for granted.

“It was such a relief,” he said. “Not like we were feeling pressure, but it was such a relief to see that after I made that effort, everyone had my back. We got this thing right here, right now.”

Estévez is excited for more, and thinks he’s hitting his stride at the perfect time. He likes how his pitches are moving. When he was with the Angels, Estévez began changing the shape of his slider, so it moved down, as opposed to side-to-side.

That variation of his slider is harder for hitters to pick up, because it mimics the movement on his fastball. He said it has felt more consistent in recent weeks, and he hasn’t sacrificed any velocity — his slider hit 92 mph recently. Estévez doesn’t like to place oversized importance on his velocity, but he has noticed that the high-stakes nature of this playoff run has had an impact.

It’s not surprising.

“In that [wild-card game] I was touching 101 mph,” Estévez said. “I’m like, ‘Oh my god. My arm feels so good. This is sick.’”

Over his first eight outings, Estévez was allowing quite a bit of hard contact (43.5%). But since Aug. 21, he has whittled that number down to 25%. Going into Wednesday’s game, he hasn’t allowed a run since Aug. 16.

“Since that series in Atlanta, I’ve been feeling really good,” Estévez said. “I was [ticked] when I walked [Orlando] Arcia [in the ninth], when I think he has like one hit against me. After that, I was throwing changeups 3-1. I was throwing changeups 3-2. And they were really good pitches. Throwing 99, down and away, up and in.

“I’m like, that’s what I need to do out of the gate. Like, come on. Why do you walk Arcia to get in this situation? So, since then, I’ve been feeling good. I know I’m going to close games and we’ve got to win, man. There’s no tomorrow.”

It’s a good headspace to be in as the Phillies prepare for October. Estévez can’t wait — especially now that the hot dogs and boos won’t be directed at him.

“It’s different,” he said. “It is a different energy, I can’t lie. The crowds are always crazy with us. And I love that.”