This is such a great series between two great teams. The Houston Astros have taken a strangle hold in the World Series as their outfield came up huge in the final two innings to give them a 3-2 series lead heading back to Houston.
What a game…again! This World Series keeps getting better and better with every game these two teams play, which is kind of surprising considering how mismatched the Phillies and the Astros really are on paper.
In reality, the Astros should have had this series wrapped up by now as they not only were the second-best team in all of baseball coming out of the regular season, but they also had swept aside the Yankees and Mariners without losing a single game.
Even though the Phillies are probably going to lose this series with it now heading back to Houston and being down 3-2, I give them all the credit in the world for even taking it this far. They’ve done something that teams supposedly ‘better’ than them (Yankees) could not: they gave the Astros a fight. And, boy, was this game a brawl.
Both the Astros and the Phillies came out of the gate flying as Altuve hit a triple off Noah Syndergaard to start off the game, while Jeremy Pena smashed an RBI single past second base to bring Altuve home for a 1-0 Astros lead.
But, unlike most of the times when the Astros opened the scoring in this series, the Phillies immediately struck back as Kyle Schwarber sent a home run flying into the right stands off Justin Verlander’s 2nd pitch of the night.
Then, Verlander walked the 3/5 of the Phillies next hitters to give Rhys Hoskins the chance of hitting a grand slam, which would have given the Phillies a 5-1 lead in only the 1st inning.
Truthfully, I thought Verlander was going to get pulled as he looked dreadful in that opening inning. Whether it was the nerves of playing in such an important game, or the fact that he knew he was one of the best pitchers to ever live who had still not won a World Series game, Verlander looked shook.
Yet, Dusty Baker kept his cool and relied on Verlander to strike out Hoskins…which he did with ease to keep the game tied at 1.
Anyway, Jeremy Pena once again proved why he should be the World Series MVP if the Astros win as he almost single-handedly won this game for Houston with his play in the middle innings. He not only caught/stopped everything that came his way from his short stop position, but he also thumped another home run off Syndergaard at the top of the 4th to give the Astros a 2-1 lead.
For being a rookie and outplaying World Series veterans, such as Altuve, Gurriel, and Alvarez, it’s extremely impressive and inspiring. He’s without a doubt one of the rising stars of the MLB.
Unfortunately for Phillies fan, their team’s woes only continued from their as they not only failed to score with runners-in-scoring position on numerous occasions, but they also gave up a third run to the Astros off a Rhys Hoskins error. Essentially, Alvarez struck a ground ball right at Hoskins, but the Phillies 1st baseman fumbled the ball in his glove as he tried to pick it up and throw to home plate with Jose Altuve making a dash to score.
Along with getting struck out with all runners on base in the 1st inning, last night really ended up not being Hoskins finest hour. Now, I’m not saying his error was as bad as Bill Buckner’s infamous calamity, but it ended up being just as costly as that Altuve score was the game winning run.
But before that was official, the Phillies kept pushing in the 8th and 9th innings, with Jean Segura hitting an RBI double to bring Philadelphia back to within one with one inning to play. Then, after a scoreless Astros inning in the top of the 9th, the game came down to the top of the Phillies lineup and Astros closer Ryan Pressley.
The Astros closer managed to strikeout Rhys Hoskins (he really had a brutal game) first, but JT Realmuto smashed a fastball deep into center field that nearly tied the game…but was denied by an incredible catch by Chas McCormick. The left fielder leaped into the air and crashed into the fence in order to catch Realmuto’s flyball in midflight, and miraculously held onto it as he fell to the ground.
I, along with the Philly crowd, was stunned that he pulled off such a great catch.
It was easily the catch of the postseason as the Phillies would have at least tied the game and could have won it with another run later on in the batting order. But that was not to be as the Astros held on to their 3-2 lead and won Game 5 to give them a 3-2 lead in the World Series.
Man, that game was probably the most intense baseball game I’ve seen in a while. I think the Astros have just about wrapped up this series as they now possess all of the momentum with these back-to-back wins in Philadelphia, but I’m not counting out the Phillies just yet.
They’ve shown that it would be foolish to do so.
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