Phillies All-Star Recap: How did Castellano and Kimbrel perform in the 2023 Midsummer Classic?

After this play, the NL would get out of the inning pretty quickly. Casty was due up second in the inning, and would ultimately strikeout on four pitches to Baltimore’s Yennier Cano.

Castellanos would fly under the radar until his next at-bat in the top of the eighth inning. Here, he would face-off against another Oriole in the hard-throwing Félix Bautista. Nick would quickly go up 2-0 in the count, but after Bautista settled in, he fought back to get the Phillies slugger to a 3-2 count. On the ninth total pitch, Casty would win the battle and walk.

After a wild pitch in the next at-bat, Castellanos eyed up Elias Diaz’s at-bat from second base. Diaz ended up getting all of Bautista’s breaking ball, sending it into the left-field bleachers. Due to Castellanos getting on base, it made it a two-run shot, giving the NL the lead in the eighth.

At the top of the ninth, the right-handed bat got one last chance, and singled to left-center on the first pitch he saw from Twins bullpen arm Pablo López. Elias Diaz struck out right after, leaving Nick on first to end the inning.

Phillies Closer Craig Kimbrel

Rob Thomson would wait until the bottom of the ninth to turn the game over to his All-Star closer.

Craig Kimbrel took the mound in the bottom of the ninth with the opportunity to close out the first National League win at the Midsummer Classic since 2012.

Kimbrel had a tall mountain to climb to close this game out, as Wander Franco, Vlad Gurriero Jr., and Kyle Tucker were due up to start the game’s final frame.

However, the nine-time All-Star showed the first two younger guys that he’s been there and done that. Kimbrel started by getting Franco to fly out to Juan Soto at the warning track in right field after a nine-pitch battle. The Home Run Derby champ came to the plate next and struck out to the Phillies closer.

Despite picking up two outs, Kimbrel would walk Kyle Tucker. This brought hometown hero Julio Rodriguez up to the plate, who Kimbrel also walked.

Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez followed up the back-to-back walks, and would strike out to end the game. Kimbrel closed the game out successfully for the National League.

Now, it’s time to turn the page, and hope that these two guys continue their success into the second half of the Phillies season.