Nick Castellanos hit a walk-off sacrifice fly in the 10th inning to lift the Philadelphia Phillies to a 2-1 win over the visiting Minnesota Twins on Sunday afternoon.
Max Kepler added a solo home run for Philadelphia (96-66), which is headed to the postseason after winning the National League East division. The Phillies finished with a MLB-best 55-26 mark at home.
Ryan Jeffers went 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI to lead Minnesota (70-92).
Phillies right-hander Orion Kerkering (8-4) pitched a scoreless inning of relief to earn the victory. He was one of five relievers to follow starter Cristopher Sanchez, who tossed 5 2/3 scoreless innings and struck out eight.
Twins right-hander Cody Laweryson (0-1) allowed one unearned run in two-thirds of an inning. He also was one of five pitchers to come out of the bullpen in relief of starter Simeon Woods Richardson, who struck out nine over six scoreless innings.
Castellanos’ fly ball to center field drove in Harrison Bader, who scored from third base without a play. Bader and the rest of the Phillies sprinted toward first base to celebrate with Castellanos.
The play capped a late comeback for Philadelphia, which trailed 1-0 entering the eighth.
Twins manager Rocco Baldelli brought in left-hander Genesis Cabrera to pitch the eighth, and the plan quickly backfired. Kepler hammered Cabrera’s second pitch over the wall in right-center field to even the score.
The blast was Kepler’s 18th homer of the season.
The game remained scoreless until the sixth, when the Twins scraped across a run. Austin Martin drew a two-out walk and came around to score on Jeffers’ double, which banged off the base of the wall in left field.
Minnesota stranded a runner on second in both the ninth and 10th innings.
The Twins rested All-Star outfielder Byron Buxton in their final game of the season. Buxton finished the 2025 campaign with 35 homers, 83 RBIs and 24 stolen bases.
Phillies shortstop Trea Turner returned to the lineup and went 0-for-2. Despite the hitless afternoon, Turner won the NL batting title for the second time with a .304 batting average. He also won the batting crown in 2021.
-Field Level Media
