After the bench was cleared in the Phils' win over the Rays, Harper stopped talking

He's played enough baseball to know when a pitcher can intentionally throw at a batter. He thought he might be around. He watched Rays right-hander Edwin Usetta explode in the Phillies' 9-4 victory Tuesday night at Citizens Bank Park. Ucheta surrendered a home run, two doubles and a single in the eighth inning to turn a close game into a rout. Uceta's ERA jumped from 0.75 to 1.49.

Castellanos said he had an “overwhelming feeling that I was going to drill.” So, he stepped into the batter's box and decided not to swing. He wanted to see if the pitch would come around the plate.

His instincts have served him well. Castellanos took a 96.2 mph fastball off his left hip, causing the bench and bullpen to empty. It was one of the fastest pitches of Uceta's career — and the first hit a batter has hit this season.

Incredibly, Usetta called the pitch a change. Not surprisingly, he said he didn't intentionally hurt Castellanos.

“I wasn't trying to do it on purpose,” Usetta said through a team interpreter.

Cash, however, said Usetta “probably lost his mind a little bit.”

“Yeah, I just told him it was bull [crap]Castellanos said. “I mean, you're throwing a baseball 90 mph. Are you frustrated and you are going to throw someone? Do you know? It's like my 2-year-old throwing a fit because I took away his dessert before he finished it.”

Did Castellanos actually do it?

“Of course,” he said, referring to his younger son. “Autos are only allowed so much cake and ice cream.”

Castellanos dropped his bat, pointed at Useta and almost immediately headed to the mound. Home-plate umpire John Liebka quickly got his way. Bryce Harper, who was on second base at the time, took off his helmet and lunged at Usetta.

Harper yelled at him a few times trying to get his attention. He made it to the mound before some Rays infielders intercepted him.

Usetta, who was later ejected, did not look at Harper.

“I don't want to be a loser and come after him,” Harper said. “If he turns around, then fine, let's go. But he never turned around, so I didn't want to… I'd say lose. I didn't want to lose. There's another word I'd like to use, but won't. But I didn't want to lose and come after him. It wouldn't have been right.”

Uceta said he's just seeing what Castellanos can do.

“I didn't realize he was getting so close to me,” Usetta said of Harper. “I saw, obviously, that he was close to me, but when everything was happening, I didn't realize how close he was because I was just worried about being away.”

The benches and bullpens were completely empty by then. No punches are thrown, though fines may be incurred.

“I mean, that's not the game we play, man,” Harper said. “It shouldn't be. Guys throw too hard these days. You're going to get mad because a guy hits a homer off you or you blow the lead, walk the guy and get out of the game. I mean, what are you going to do? Situations Really fired me up. It's not something you should accept as Major League Baseball.”

Harper knows what a wrong pitch can do. He took a 96.9 mph fastball to the face on April 28, 2021 in St. Louis. He broke his left thumb on an errant pitch on June 25, 2022 in San Diego.

The Phillies can't afford to lose a player to another bad pitch, not for a while.

“We're in a race now,” Harper said. “We're doing our thing. We're trying to get into the postseason. A man wants to drill him. It's not right.”

Harper was asked if it was something that could bring players closer to an already tight team.

“As a team, I don't think we really need a moment like that because we are [already] This is the type of team,” he said. “Anytime we have something to do — if we're going to dinner, if we're hanging out, if we're hanging out here watching football or doing whatever — we're such a close team, when something like that happens, I think we're all upset. Because it's not right.”