Nick Castellanos ripped a winning two-out single off Tylor Megill that scored Bryce Harper and sent the Philadelphia Phillies to a dizzying 7-6 win over the New York Mets on Sunday and evened the NL Division Series at one game apiece.
Castellanos tossed his helmet and was mobbed by teammates on the infield as a game that seemed to slip away one inning earlier turned into one more comeback for the NL East champions.
Megill retired the first two batters of the ninth and walked Harper, who also homered and scored twice. Castellanos, who also homered, followed with perhaps the hit of his Phillies’ career and sent the towel-waving crowd at Citizens Bank Park into a frenzy.
“Unbelievable. Unbelievable,” Castellanos said. “If he blows a fastball by me so be it. I’d rather that than swing at something in the dirt. It was incredible but the series is even. Now we go to New York and there’s a lot of baseball left.”
Game 3 is Tuesday in New York, the Mets’ first home game since Sept. 22.
“Punch for punch the whole game,” Harper said. “That’s a big win going 1-1 into New York. I expect that to be a pretty hostile environment and we’re looking forward to that.”
In just the second postseason game between the NL East rivals, the Mets and Phillies were pushed from pillar to post over the final four innings, each game-changing swing topped by one even more emotional.
Mark Vientos hit a pair of two-run homers for the Mets, who got solo shots from Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo.
Padres 10, Dodgers 2
Fans threw baseballs in the direction of San Diego left fielder Jurickson Profar and then tossed trash that caused a lengthy delay before the Padres beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 10-2 on Sunday night in Los Angeles to even their NL Division Series at a game apiece.
Yu Darvish limited the Dodgers’ powerful offence to one run and three hits over seven innings and Fernando Tatis Jr. went deep twice as the Padres tied the postseason record of six homers.
David Peralta and Jackson Merrill each hit two-run homers, and a hobbled Xander Bogaerts and Kyle Higashioka had solo shots.
The delay in the middle of the seventh inning led to a 12-minute gap between pitches and occurred as two balls were thrown from the stands in the direction of Profar. He chased after one of them but a security officer got to it first. Trash was strewn on the warning track in right near the Padres bullpen.
There was continuous booing by the sellout crowd of 54,119 — the largest at Dodger Stadium this season.
Security rushed onto the field as Padres manager Mike Shildt and his team huddled in shallow left. They were joined by the umpiring crew. Security appeared to be trying to identify potential perpetrators in the crowd.
The best-of-five series shifts to San Diego on Tuesday.
Dodgers starter Jack Flaherty hit Tatis with a pitch in the sixth inning, and Profar exchanged words with Dodgers catcher Will Smith.
The Dodgers thought they’d tied it in the bottom of the first. Mookie Betts hit a deep fly to the corner and left field umpire Adrian Johnson circled his arm signaling a home run.
But Profar battled the outstretched arms of fans, reeling in the ball on the webbing of his glove. He barely reacted to his spectacular grab, hopping away backward as he stared at the astonished fans. Later, there were verbal exchanges between fans and Profar.
