Nick Castellanos homers, as the Phillies sweep the Rays, and cut magic number to win the NL East to 9

Major League Baseball had already disciplined Tampa Bay reliever Edwin Uceta for intentionally hitting Nick Castellanos with a pitch on Tuesday before Wednesday night’s game had even started. But that didn’t stop the Phillies right fielder from dishing out some revenge where it really mattered: the scoreboard.

Castellanos accounted for all the Phillies’ runs in their 3-2 win over the Rays, helping secure the series sweep and reducing their magic number to win the National League East to nine.

“I thought that we played three very complete baseball games,” Castellanos said. “I also really liked how everybody did something different to contribute every single night. It wasn’t really one guy carrying the torch for all three games.”

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His first plate appearance of the night also happened to be his first one since getting drilled by Uceta in a five-run eighth inning that broke open a tie game on Tuesday, an act that led to a fracas on the field between the two teams.

The first pitch from Rays starter Shane Baz was a four-seamer Castellanos watched straight down the middle. He held off on another fastball high above the zone, before sending a slider to the left-field seats. The two-run homer was briefly reviewed, but stood, and it gave the Phillies an early 2-0 lead.

Though the Rays tied things up in the sixth, Castellanos later came around to score the go-ahead run after drawing a walk. He was driven home on a single by third baseman Weston Wilson, who celebrated his 30th birthday in style.

In the eighth inning, Castellanos was hit by another pitch, this time a sinker up and in from Rays reliever Kevin Kelly. But though the Citizens Bank Park crowd expressed its discontent, it was not deemed intentional and no benches cleared.

Castellanos put Tuesday’s incident behind him. He said Rays manager Kevin Cash, who was fined and suspended for one game by MLB, approached him during batting practice Wednesday afternoon to apologize.

“There’s a right way to play the game and there’s a wrong way to play the game. And just admitting that is all that I could ask for,” Castellanos said.

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The Phillies only totaled five hits, but that proved to be all the offense they needed, thanks to another solid outing from starter Zack Wheeler and a lights-out bullpen.

With J.T. Realmuto sitting out again with a bruised left knee, Aramis Garcia was behind the plate for Wheeler. Even without his usual catcher — or even his usual backup catcher, Garrett Stubbs — Wheeler posted another quality start. He struck out nine and held the Rays to two runs over six innings.

He did allow a lot of traffic on the base paths. Wheeler walked two batters to lead off the second inning, and though he responded with two consecutive strikeouts, the Rays plated one run off a single from nine-hole hitter Taylor Walls.

“I didn’t think he was as sharp as normal,” manager Rob Thomson said. “I thought the sinker was good. Velocity was good, touched 98 [mph] in the first. He threw some effective splitters, but it didn’t seem like he could land his breaking ball, whether the slider or the curveball.”

Wheeler was frequently able to pitch his way out of trouble. After giving up a leadoff triple to start the third inning, Wheeler struck out the next three batters to strand Brandon Lowe at third base. The only other run he allowed was a solo shot in the sixth inning from Jonathan Aranda, who worked a seven-pitch at-bat and crushed a sweeper for his second home run of the season.

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“It was a battle. Obviously didn’t have my best command and all that, but got through it,” Wheeler said.

Matt Strahm pitched a scoreless seventh. José Alvarado took over in the eighth inning and retired the side in order. He has not allowed a run in five appearances since returning from the restricted list.

“I never give up, and it’s so much different when you go out and just focus on competing and not worrying too much about those things that you can’t control,” Alvarado said through a team interpreter. “I know that I came from a rough stretch of bad outings, but I think that we just left that behind now, and I think we’ve been doing a great job as a team.”

Carlos Estévez faced the minimum in the ninth to seal the win. He did allow a single by pinch hitter Yandy Diaz to put the potential tying run aboard, but pinch runner Jose Caballero was quickly erased when Garcia caught him trying to steal second. Garcia, who became the latest triple-A call-up to contribute to a Phillies victory during the series, also tagged out Aranda at home in the fourth inning.

“Everybody’s contributing,” Castellanos said. “I think that’s signs of just a great team. It’s not just one person doing it. Everybody’s doing something when their number’s called.”