Nick Castellanos, Bryce Harper sound off on Tampa Bay Rays’ Edwin Uceta following bench clearing incident last night at The Bank
Things got heated between the Phillies and Rays when Tampa Bay’s Edwin Uceta drilled Nick Castellanos with a fastball in the eighth inning. Uceta, who had just given up three earned runs, seemed to let his frustration boil over—and Nick Castellanos rightfully wasn’t having any of it.
Uceta surrendered a home run, two doubles and a single in the eighth inning to turn what was a close game at Citizens Bank Park into an easy win for the Phillies.
Uceta’s ERA jumped from 0.75 to 1.49 and when Nick Castellanos stepped up to the plate, Edwin Uceta threw a 96.2 mph fastball right at him, plunking Castellanos on his left hip, which led to the benches and bullpens clearing.
Nick Castellanos Hit by Pitch – Benches Clear at The Bank
It was one of the fastest pitches of Uceta’s career — and it was the first batter he has hit this season. After the game, Uceta’s claimed it was a change-up and unintentional, but obviously that was complete bullshit.
Nick Castellanos compares Edwin Uceta to his two year old child
“I just told him it was bullshit,” Nick Castellanos said after the game, according to Corey Seidman of NBC Sports Philadelphia. “You’re throwing 90-plus mph and you’re mad, so you decide to throw at someone? That’s like my 2-year-old throwing a tantrum when I take his dessert away.”
The benches cleared, words were exchanged, and Uceta ended up getting the boot. Following the game, Bryce Harper weighed in, and let’s just say he was about as happy as he was on the field when he left second base to approach Uceta.
Bryce Harper: “The whole thing really pissed me off”
“He hit him on purpose,” Harper said bluntly. “That’s not the game we play, and it shouldn’t be. Pitchers throw way too hard now. If you’re mad about giving up a homer or blowing a lead, walk the guy and get off the mound. Don’t throw at somebody. The whole thing really pissed me off.”
No arguments here on either comments. The Tampa Bay Rays are a bad baseball team this season. The Phillies have 17 games left in the regular season before “Red October” officially begins in the city of Brotherly Love.
They are not the same. At all.
On top of that, the Phillies are battling injuries all over their roster and to have some shitty pitcher throwing at guys is pretty pathetic and also probably the unfortunate reason the Phillies pitching staff will keep things cordial in the finale tonight with Zack Wheeler on the mound.
Injury Updates: The Phillies need to focus on getting healthy before the playoffs >>
The Phillies didn’t let the drama distract them. They cruised to a 9-4 win to improve to an MLB-best 87-58 on the season with 17 games left.
Ranger Suarez was on the mound and while still not looking like the pitcher we saw in the first half of the MLB season, he was pretty effective (I guess), tossing 5.1 innings while allowing 12 hits and 4 earned runs to go along with two walks and two strikeouts.
The bullpen was dominant. Kerkering, Strahm, Alvarado, and Banks combined to throw 3.2 innings while allowing just one hit (Banks) to go along with two walks and three strikeouts.
Harper was unstoppable, going 4-for-5 with three doubles, while Nick Castellanos didn’t record a hit he definitely made his presence known.
At the plate, Kyle Schwarber hit his MLB-record 14th leadoff home run in the first inning to put the Phillies up 1-0 early. Johan Rojas hit a double the next inning and a throwing error allowed Brandon Marsh to score.
Schwarbombing MLB History Books
In the bottom of the third inning, Trea Turner hit a two-run home run to give the Phillies a 4-2 advantage. Turner would homer again in the Phillies’ 5-run 8th inning.
With the win, the Phillies now lead both the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves by eight games in the NL East standings with 17 remaining. In the National League, the Phillies lead the Dodgers by one game for the top seed and also hold the best record in all of Major League Baseball at 87-58 on the season.
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