Philadelphia Phillies Stars Speak After Benches Clear Against Tampa Bay Rays

The Philadelphia Phillies had a couple of players speak out after the benches cleared against the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night.

Sep 10, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Nick Castellanos (8) gets hit by a pitch during the eighth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Citizens Bank Park. / Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Phillies game against the Tampa Bay Rays got dramatic after Nick Castellanos was hit with a pitch in the bottom of the eighth inning caused the benches to clear.

Castellanos was clearly upset after getting plunked by Rays pitcher Edwin Uceta.

Teammate Bryce Harper was one of the first players to the mound as the umpires tried to deescalate the situation.

The benches were cleared very soon after.

Benches clear in Philadelphia after Nick Castellanos is hit by a pitch pic.twitter.com/EHs4XuBE8n

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) September 11, 2024

After the game, Castellanos spoke to the media while he was clearly still upset with what happened during the game.

"I just told [Uceta] that was [expletive]," the outfielder bluntly stated. "You're throwing a baseball over 90 MPH and you're frustrated so you're going to throw at somebody? That's like my two-year-old throwing a fit because I take away his desert before he's finished."

The Phillies slugger also explained he felt heading into the at-bat that he could end up getting hit.

The sense was Uceta was upset because he was struggling more than he has recently for Tampa Bay.

Harper shared similar sentiments to the media as well.

"Yeah I mean he hit him on purpose." said the first baseman while shaking his head in disapproval. "It's not the game that we play man. It shouldn't be."

Heading into this contest, Uceta was sporting a clean 0.75 ERA across 24 fairly dominant outings. He'd only given up a total of three earned runs over 36 innings pitched.

His ERA nearly doubled after he gave up three earned runs (plus two batters he inherited) on four hits while only getting one batter out. It was a tied game at four runs apiece when he entered, and it was a 9-4 contest by the time he left.

It's clear he was upset by his performance, but the Philadelphia players had the right to be upset at him for deciding to take it out on Castellanos.

The right fielder ended the day 0-for-4 at the plate, so it really added insult to injury for him.

Castellanos was likely already a little frustrated heading into the game as he had a .207/.303/.241 slash line to start September before his hitless game on Tuesday.

Now, the Phillies can put the incident behind them as they try to pull off the series sweep on Wednesday and continue to prepare for their upcoming postseason run.