Castellanos paces Phillies' offence to snap Blue Jays' 3-game winning streak

Nick Castellanos went 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the visiting Toronto Blue Jays 8-4 on Tuesday night.

Bo Bichette hit his eighth homer of the season for Toronto, which had swept a three-game set at Pittsburgh over the weekend. Alek Manoah (1-3) allowed three runs in 4 2/3 innings, throwing 94 pitches and getting only three swing-and-miss strikes.

Castellanos struggled in the first year of his five-year, $100 million US contract with Philadelphia in 2022. His batting average dropped from .309 in 2021 with Cincinnati to .263, and he hit only 13 homers a year after hitting 34.

He has looked like his old self thus far this year. His batting average (.317) and slugging and on-base percentages are up substantially.

Castellanos turned on a fourth-inning fastball from Manoah and deposited it just inside the left-field foul pole for his fifth homer of the season, a two-run shot that put Philadelphia ahead 2-1.

Casty go BOOM <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RingTheBell?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RingTheBell</a> <a href="https://t.co/iAhoWFZKea">pic.twitter.com/iAhoWFZKea</a>

Bryson Stott, Trea Turner, J.T. Realmuto and Edmundo Sosa also drove in runs for the Phillies.

Kevin Kiermaier had two hits and scored twice for Toronto.