Castellanos comes up clutch in back-to-back games to secure series sweep

PHILADELPHIA -- Each time Nick Castellanos has seemed to possibly find a spark this season, it quickly flickered out in the days that followed.

But not this time.

One day after delivering a walk-off knock in the 10th inning, Castellanos continued his recent surge with a clutch two-run homer to lead the London-bound Phillies to a 2-0 victory -- and a series sweep -- over the first-place Brewers on Wednesday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park.

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That was more than enough offense for Aaron Nola, who allowed just two hits over seven scoreless innings to improve to 8-2 with a 2.77 ERA. He's 4-0 with a 1.53 ERA in his past five outings.

But Nola's effort would have gone for naught if not for Castellanos' fifth-inning blast off Brewers starter Aaron Ashby. Locked in a scoreless tie, the Phillies put two on with nobody out, but Ashby appeared poised to escape the jam after getting Kyle Schwarber to ground into a double play.

Castellanos, hitting second for just the second time this season, had other plans. After taking a curveball for a called strike, Castellanos teed off on a knee-high changeup, sending it a projected 402 feet into the left-center field seats with a 103.1 mph exit velocity.

So how’d that swing feel?

"Really good,” Castellanos said. “A lot better now that it ended up being the difference in the game. But honestly, it was just good to be able to stay through a changeup like that."

Castellanos has a hit in seven of his past eight games, during which he's hitting .323 (10-for-31) with six extra-base hits, six RBIs -- and only four strikeouts.

“The team’s success is far greater than my own personal success,” Castellanos said. “So thanks to my teammates and how good they've been playing, it's been easy to kind of keep me focused on the things that are important.”

Castellanos has started to return the favor of late, with many of his teammates suddenly searching to find their own swing. Bryce Harper is hitting just .194 (7-for-36) over his past 10 games. Kyle Schwarber is 2-for-22 (.091) in his past six. Alec Bohm is 1-for-18 (.056) in his past four.

The Phillies swept the Brewers despite scoring only seven runs in the series. That's their fewest in a three-game sweep since 1966 (also seven against the Mets).

Castellanos drove in three of the club’s seven runs.

“I mean, I'll take it, sure,” Castellanos said when asked if his contributions are more rewarding because they’ve helped pick those guys up. “As long as we're winning.”

The first hope for a Castellanos spark came on April 13, when he delivered a walk-off single against the Pirates. But he went just 1-for-17 (.059) over the next five games.

A week later, Castellanos had his first three-hit game of the season in an April 20 win over the White Sox. He went 5-for-35 (.143) over the next nine games.

Castellanos notched another three-hit game (including a homer) on April 30 in Anaheim, only to go 0-for-8 with six strikeouts in his next two games. His batting average dipped to .194 before another three-hit game on May 19 vs. Nationals, but any hope that would be the turning point faded as he went 5-for-32 (.156) with seven strikeouts over the next eight games.

Castellanos raised his season average back above .200 with a three-hit effort against the Giants on May 29. He followed it up with a double the next day. And another double the day after that. Then, two more hits the following day.

A couple days later, he was swarmed after ripping a walk-off double into the right-field corner. Less than 24 hours later, a decisive two-run homer.

The results come amid a stretch where Castellanos has been taking the field well before the rest of his teammates for early batting practice.

“I just feel like it lets me take my time a little bit more and really feel things that I want to feel,” Castellanos said.

It seems to be working.

"He's balanced at the plate, he's seeing the ball, he's taking pitches, working counts, using the entire field," manager Rob Thomson said. "It looks like he's getting there. He's playing well."

Castellanos and his teammates have two days off before the two-game London Series against the Mets. They sit 25 games above .500 and hold an eight-game lead over the Braves in the NL East -- the largest division lead across the Majors.

“Winning is so much fun, honestly,” Castellanos said. “But the realist in me knows there's so much baseball left.

“It's not how you start, it's how you finish.”