Tuesday night’s opening game of their NL Wild Card Series saw the Philadelphia Phillies begin a determined postseason drive with a 4-1 victory over the Miami Marlins thanks to an outstanding eight strikeout performance from Zack Wheeler and a crucial strikeout from José Alvarado.

The most memorable moment of the game came from Nick Castellanos, who pointed his ring finger in the direction of the jubilant Phillies dugout following a crucial double. His gesture indicated that the defending NL champs were longing for the priceless jewel that Houston had denied them the previous season.

In the eighth inning, Castellanos added an RBI double to score Bryce Harper, who barreled past a stop sign and took off his helmet. The Phillies were now within one win of Atlanta in the NL Division Series.

For the save, Craig Kimbrel pitched a scoreless ninth inning.

Supporters of the Phillies waved posters that said “Un-phinished Business,” and as injured slugger Rhys Hoskins choked back tears and threw the ceremonial first pitch, the crowd went completely crаzy.

Last season, the Phillies made it to 11 postseason games, two games short of their ultimate aim and their first World Series championship since 2008.

Unfinished business was a major theme that ran through the clubhouse this season, as it does for so many World Series losers.

Prior to the match, manager Rоb Thomson stated, “We’ve got to get back after it this year, and it’s a different team.” To be really honest with you, I think this is a superior team.

Here they are once more, with Trea Turner, the standout shortstop, leading them in important games in October and Wheeler performing at his best.

Wheeler was a player from the beginning, ranking among the team’s greatest free-agent acquisitions ever. In the first inning, he blasted nine fastballs in the 97-99 mph zone, the hardest he has thrown all season for a pitcher with 212 strikeouts.

Despite the fierce cheers of 45,662 spectators at Citizens Bank Park for each of K. Wheeler’s sliders, the seasoned right-hander never gave up. His scum, his sinker.

A year after being lifted in the sixth inning of Game 6 of the World Series against Houston with a 1-0 lead, Wheeler is just thankful to get another opportunity to play in the postseason. Later in the inning, Yordan Alvarez launched a three-run home run against Alvarado, and the Astros quickly secured the World Series.

Last season was that. Alvarado ended a Marlins dаnger in the eighth inning by striking out Yuli Gurriel with two bases on. In the eighth inning, the left-hander struck out two batters before getting the third out of the inning from Jeff Hoffman.

In this one, Wheeler just threw 46 pitches through four innings, compared to Marlins starter Jesús Luzardo’s laborious 90 over the same time.

The 26-year-old Luzardo grew up cheering on Marlins players like Miguel Cabrera and Juan Pierre while growing up in South Florida.

Luzardo saw the Marlins win Game 3 of the 2003 World Series when he was six years old, and he was ecstatic to be transferred to Miami before the 2021 campaign.

Hardly everything went as expected for his first postseason start with his boyhood team.

Six Phillies players had at least 20 home runs in the starting lineup of Game 1, led by Kyle Schwarber’s 47. But, every starter had at least one Һit, so they didn’t need the Alec Booms and Schwarbombs to finish the job.

The third inning began with Johan Rojas, the No. 9 hitter, hammering away at Luzardo with a nine-pitch at-bat for a single. After a wild pitch put him on second, Alec Bohm’s RBI double to left field sent him home.

In the fourth, Bryson Stott gave the Phillies a 2-0 lead with an RBI single off of Luzardo, and Cristian Pache made it 3-0 with a single that drove in Castellanos.

Nick, flick that finger. It’s the Phillies’ first one.