PHILADELPHIA — Bryce Harper had something to say. So, after being presented with the National League MVP award in a pregame ceremony Saturday, he stepped to a podium and made brief remarks, including eight words that may serve as the keynote to the Phillies’ season.
“Let’s go have a party on Broad Street.”
On cue, then, Nick Castellanos brought a noisemaker.
Castellanos swatted his first Phillies home run, a two-run shot in the first inning after Harper got hit by a pitch. And like his power-hitting partner, Kyle Schwarber, 25 hours earlier on opening day, Castellanos’ blast set the tone for a 4-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics before another jam-packed crowd at Citizens Bank Park.
OK, before we go further, a caveat: Nobody expects the A’s to be any good this season. They traded four of their best players last month and have a $47 million payroll, roughly as much as the combined 2022 salaries for Harper and Castellanos.
But victories over Oakland count the same as victories over any other team, and the Phillies struggled to beat Arizona, Colorado, Baltimore, and other tomato cans down the stretch last season.
So, starting pitcher Kyle Gibson gladly took his 10 strikeouts, one shy of matching his career-high. And Castellanos, Rhys Hoskins, and Jean Segura were happy to collect home runs. And the Phillies took no mercy in executing their formula: Crush the ball, early, often, and without regard for opposing pitchers.
Five of the first eight batters against Athletics lefty Cole Irvin hit the ball with an exit velocity of at least 100 mph. And although Irvin, the former Phillie, held the two-run margin for the next four innings, Hoskins and Segura hit back-to-back homers to stretch the lead.
But Schwarber and Castellanos, the sluggers whose arrival has taken the Phillies’ offense into another dimension, have announced their presences loudly.
Schwarber stole the show in the opener with a leadoff homer in the first inning. Castellanos, signed to a five-year, $100 million contract to bat behind Harper, picked up an RBI double in the opener. Then, for an encore, he jumped on a first-pitch sinker from Irvin and clocked it into the left-center field seats.
“I don’t know that there’s a lot better 3-4s in the middle of the lineup in baseball than Harper-Castellanos,” Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said in the waning days of spring training.
So far, it’s difficult to argue.
Gibson’s a 10
In his first start of the season, Kyle Gibson looked like Bob Gibson.
After allowing a one-out single to Jed Lowrie in the first inning, Gibson — Kyle, that is — retired 14 consecutive batters. He held the A’s to two hits in seven scoreless innings and struck out 10, his highest total in a game since May 8, 2019, for Minnesota against Toronto.
Gibson also benefited from nifty infield defense. In the fifth inning, second baseman Jean Segura dove for Elvis Andrus’ smash, got to his feet, and made an on-time throw. First baseman Rhys Hoskins started and finished a 3-6-3 double play in the sixth.
Third watch
After sitting out opening day in favor of rookie Bryson Stott, Alec Bohm started at third base and went 2-for-2 with a double and a walk. The double came on a 92-mph fastball from Irvin. Bohm batted .190 against fastballs last season.
Bohm figures to get most of his at-bats early in the season against left-handed pitching, as the Phillies try to find playing time for him and Stott. It’s likely Stott, a natural shortstop, will move around to short and second base when Didi Gregorius or Segura get a rest.
Up next
Zach Eflin will be opposed by Athletics rookie right-hander Daulton Jefferies in the series finale at 1:05 p.m. Sunday. It will mark Eflin’s first start 268 days. He had surgery on his right knee in September.
