ST. LOUIS -- Phillies right fielder Nick Castellanos pursued a fly ball into the right-field corner in the first inning on Saturday afternoon at Busch Stadium, but he thought he had no chance to catch it.

Then it tailed back into play.

“I started running after it a little bit like a courtesy run,” Castellanos said following a 4-1 victory over the Cardinals. “And then I was like, ‘Oh, man, that’s going to stay in fair territory.’ Then I caught it.”

A young Phillies fan wearing a powder-blue Mike Schmidt jersey stood up and offered his hand to Castellanos.

“He was just like, ‘Let’s go! Yeah!’” Castellanos said. “Just excited.”

Castellanos gave the fan a high five, then offered a fist bump.

Why?

“Just to give him a little bit more love,” he said. “You know?”

The boy enthusiastically accepted. Castellanos tossed him the ball.

“We’re just all out here having a good time,” he said.

Castellanos went 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs on Saturday. He is batting .308 with two home runs, nine RBIs and an .876 OPS, which includes five strikeouts in Thursday night’s 11-inning loss to the Braves.

Castellanos was the 12th player in Phillies history to strike out five times in a game, according to Baseball Reference.

“If you take out that one night in Atlanta, I just feel like I’ve controlled my at-bats decently for the most part,” he said.

Castellanos drove a two-out double to left-center field in the first inning to score Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber to give the Phillies a 2-0 lead.

“It reassures that I’m in a good spot,” Castellanos said about hitting the ball to left-center. “I really like my work that I’m doing with [Phillies hitting coaches]. Just stay there.”