PHOENIX — Adrian Del Castillo hit the winning homer in just his second game in the majors, hammering the first pitch of the ninth inning to give the Arizona Diamondbacks a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night.
The Phillies rallied from a 2-0 deficit, tying it in the eighth on a two-out RBI double from Johan Rojas that scored a hustling Nick Castellanos from first.
That set up Del Castillo's ninth-inning heroics. He jumped all over a 97 mph fastball from Jeff Hoffman (3-2), launching it deep into the right-field seats for his first big league homer. He was mobbed at home plate by his teammates while a crowd of nearly 38,000 roared.
Welcome to the big leagues, kid.
“Goosebumps, honestly,” Del Castillo said. “Straight up goosebumps. It was sick. I don’t even know how to describe it.”
Arizona's Ryne Nelson threw 7 1/3 brilliant innings, giving up just three hits and two runs, walking one and striking out nine.
Del Castillo finished with three hits and two RBIs. Del Castillo was called up this week after starting catcher Gabriel Moreno went down with a groin injury in Cleveland. In 100 games this season for Triple-A Reno, Del Castillo hit .319 with 24 homers and 70 RBIs.
“You couldn’t ask for any greater moment for a young player,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. “I get so excited for the players coming up from player development. I felt like I was 18 years old again for a few minutes.”
Justin Martinez (5-3) pitched the ninth, getting the victory with the D-backs' seventh walk-off win of the year.
The Diamondbacks took a 1-0 lead in the first when Del Castillo hit a looping RBI single to left center. Joc Pederson made it 2-0 in the third with a solo homer to right, which was his 19th long ball of the season.
Meanwhile, Nelson put on quite a display of strike throwing, retiring the first 12 batters he faced and throwing first-pitch strikes to the first 17 batters. At one point in the sixth inning, he had thrown 51 strikes and just 10 balls.
Nelson might have been pitching for his job in the starting rotation. Merrill Kelly is expected to return from injury this weekend, giving the D-backs six starting pitchers including Zac Gallen, Jordan Montgomery, Brandon Pfaadt and Eduardo Rodriguez.
Lovullo said he's not going with a six-man rotation so someone's got to move to the bullpen. The manager said he's not ready to make a decision.
“I just try to go out there, compete, and do whatever I can to make their decision as hard as it can be,” Nelson said.
Bryce Harper finally got to Nelson in the seventh, driving an opposite field homer to left field for his 26th homer of the year to cut it to 2-1.
“He's in a good spot right now,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said.
Philadelphia's Zack Wheeler gave up two runs on seven hits over six innings. The right-hander walked two and struck out eight.
MAKING MOVES
Diamondbacks: Called up RHP Scott McGough and optioned RHP Slade Cecconi to Triple-A Reno.
Phillies: OF Austin Hays (hamstring) was placed on the 10-day IL and LHP Kolby Allard was optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. OF Cal Stevenson and RHP Max Lazar were promoted from Triple-A. 1B Darick Hall and RHP Max Castillo were designated for assignment.
UP NEXT
The D-backs will start RHP Zac Gallen (9-5, 3.75 ERA) on Saturday night. The Phillies counter with RHP Aaron Nola (11-5, 3.54 ERA).
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Arizona sports
The city of Phoenix is home to four major professional sports league teams; The NFL's Arizona Cardinals, NBA's Phoenix Suns, WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and MLB's Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Cardinals have made State Farm Stadium in Glendale their home turf and the Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix is home to both the Suns and the Mercury. The Indoor Football League’s Arizona Rattlers play at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale.
Phoenix also has a soccer team with the USL's Phoenix Rising FC, who play at Phoenix Rising FC Stadium in Phoenix.
The Valley hosts multiple major sporting events every year, including college football's Fiesta Bowl and Guaranteed Rate Bowl; the PGA Tour’s highest-attended event, the WM Phoenix Open; NASCAR events each spring and fall, including Championship Weekend in November; and Cactus League Spring Training for 15 Major League Baseball franchises.
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