Nick Castellanos’ tying homer, Johan Rojas go-ahead shot power Phillies in 7-5 win over Angels

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Nick Castellanos had barely finished his swing when he took his right hand off the bat and pointed to right field.

Castellanos got it.

And he knew it.

“Yes,” he said, smiling. “I did.”

With the Phillies two outs from a second loss in a row at Angel Stadium — a place where they seldom visit and hadn’t won in 21 years — Castellanos drove an opposite-field solo homer to tie the game in the ninth inning Tuesday night. Johan Rojas followed with a go-ahead two-run shot into the left-field bullpen to power a 7-5 comeback win over the Mike Trout-less Angels.

» READ MORE: MLB’s best rotation? Alec Bohm an All-Star? Buy or sell the top storylines from a 19-win Phillies April.

The Phillies clinched a winning record on the 10-game road swing that wraps Wednesday with ace Zack Wheeler on the mound. They also set a modern franchise record with 19 April victories, eclipsing the 102-win 2011 team.

But while that was all well and good, Castellanos’ biggest swing of the season could have the most lasting impact. Because the $20 million-per-year slugger was among the worst players in the majors through the season’s first month and has looked for reasons to feel good.

Judging by his reaction, the blast to right field left him feeling great.

“That was the first time,” Castellanos said of pointing before he finished swinging. “Just excited. I hit it, I had a really good feeling it was going to go out, and it just happened.”

“That’s knowing your pop,” backup catcher Garrett Stubbs said, noting the degree of difficulty of an opposite-field homer to the spacious right field in Anaheim.

It marked Castellanos’ second home run in five games after going 20 without so much as an extra-base hit. He’s only 8-for-35 on the road trip, but given the depth of the hole that he dug for himself, it represents progress.

“Huge, man, just to be able to come through,” Castellanos said. “Because I feel like there’s so many spots so far this season where I haven’t. Just to be able to pick them up feels great.”

» READ MORE: Almost two years later, the Brandon Marsh-Logan O’Hoppe trade has ‘worked out for everybody’

The smallest things can jump-start a struggling hitter. A few days ago, Castellanos suggested that a [butt]-out flare might do the trick. He had two such singles to left field in his first two at-bats Tuesday night. Maybe three walks Sunday in San Diego helped, or a deep drive to right field Monday night that was caught on the warning track.

Or maybe it was a pregame conversation Tuesday with Angels manager Ron Washington. Castellanos knows Washington only from playing against his teams over the years and from the testimony of friends in the game, but considers him “one of the best baseball minds, period.”

“I put him up there with Jim Leyland,” Castellanos said. “He’s a straight shooter. He calls it how he sees it. Any time that it looks like he’s not busy on a baseball field, I will always make my way over to go say hello.”

Maybe Washington’s words helped, then. Or maybe it was something else entirely.

“Sometimes it starts with things that don’t have to do with the field, little signs away in everyday life,” Castellanos said. “I can’t really explain that, right? I don’t know. I’m weird, but that’s kind of my truth.”

Whatever the case, Castellanos brought the Phillies back from the brink.

For a second consecutive game, they lost an early 3-0 lead. This time, it was Trea Turner’s muff of a routine grounder on a surefire inning-ending double play in the sixth that opened the door for Luis Rengifo’s go-ahead three-run homer that gave the Angels a 4-3 lead.

» READ MORE: Bryce Harper vs. Mike Trout, 12 years in: What drives them to be great, and will they ever join forces?

It was 5-4 when Castellanos smashed a first-pitch fastball from Angels closer Carlos Estévez into the right-field bleachers, raised his right arm, took two hops, and circled the bases.

Spencer Turnbull, fresh off his latest gem in what might have been his last start for a while, was on the training table when Castellanos’ ball went out.

“I was still in uni because I came out and never really took it off,” said Turnbull, who sprinted to the dugout. “He had just walked through the [high-five] line of everybody, and I got him at the end of the dugout. And then I saw Ro’s homer. I was pretty pumped.”

Bryson Stott followed Castellanos by stroking a ground-rule double to left field before Rojas slugged his first homer of the season on a hanging slider from Estévez.

After a 1-for-22 start, Rojas is 19-for-61 (.311), more than even the Phillies expected from their young No. 9 hitter.

“I mean, if you go back to the first couple weeks,” manager Rob Thomson said, “I’m ecstatic with where he’s at based on that.”

Said Castellanos: “I think it shows you how much athleticism he has. He’s small, but he can pack a punch.”

» READ MORE: Phillies’ Cristopher Sánchez has allowed nine steals through six starts: ‘I need to be better’

Turnbull gave up little more than Zach Neto’s solo homer in 5⅓ innings, the continuation of a dreamy start to the season. The Phillies are 5-1 in Turnbull’s starts. He allowed a total of five earned runs in 32⅓ innings for a 1.39 ERA that ranks second in the National League behind fellow Phillies starter Ranger Suárez (1.32).

But it may still land Turnbull in the bullpen by the weekend, because the Phillies won’t stick with a six-man rotation, Thomson reiterated.

That’s for another day. This was about Castellanos’ restored confidence and what it could mean for a Phillies team that, at 20-11, is off to its best start in 13 years without his production.

“We’re just jelling and we’re playing good baseball,” Castellanos said. “We’re showing up every day with the intent to win. We’re just a really good baseball team. So, now, the trick is to just stay consistent, stay healthy.”