Nick Castellanos produces from 8th spot as Phillies top Marlins

Move over, Maikel Franco. There’s a brand-new premature candidate for the “Best Eight-Hole Hitter in Baseball” title who’s made his way to Citizens Bank Park.

With Nick Castellanos struggling mightily in the second half of the season, Phillies manager Rob Thomson moved the All-Star outfielder down to the eighth spot in the batting order for Saturday night’s game. The right-handed hitter responded with a strong performance, putting Philadelphia on the board first in an 8-4 victory over the Miami Marlins.

Castellanos went 2-for-3 with a walk and two RBIs in his eight-hole debut with the Phillies. In his first plate appearance, he laced a two-run double down the left-field line to put Philadelphia on top 2-0 in the bottom of the second.

Castellanos then came around to score as Kyle Schwarber launched a three-run home run to center field to extend the lead to five.

Phillies starter Aaron Nola took that early lead and cruised for four innings, but ran into a wall in the fifth. He hung a breaking ball to Garrett Hampson, who slugged it over the left-field wall to put Miami on the board. He then allowed four additional hits in a row, including RBI doubles by Jacob Stallings and Josh Bell. Nola was removed after 4 1/3 innings while allowing seven hits, and he was given a total of four earned runs on his line after reliever Jeff Hoffman allowed an inherited runner to score on a sacrifice fly.

Thankfully for the Phillies, the trusty Hoffman escaped further damage to keep the score 5-4. Philadelphia punched right back in its half of the fifth as Brandon Marsh hit a key bases-loaded double to put the Phillies ahead 8-4.

From there, the bullpen took control as Hoffman pitched a clean sixth inning. Lefties Gregory Soto and José Alvarado then bridged the way to the ninth with an inning apiece, before Craig Kimbrel slammed the door with scoreless save.

After losing the first of a three-game set against Miami on Friday, the Phillies (78-63) will go for the series win on Sunday afternoon with Ranger Suárez on the mound.

Ticket IQ Next Game

• Saturday, Sept. 10 vs. Miami Marlins at Citizens Bank Park
• 1:05 p.m. Eastern
• TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia, MLB Network (out-of-market)
• Radio: SportsRadio 94WIP, WTTM 1680 (Spanish)

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