After tying a World Series record with five home runs in Tuesday night’s Game 3 rout of the favored Houston Astros by a score of 7-0, the Philadelphia Phillies are two victories away from the most improbable championship.
Bryce Harper smacked a two-run home run on the first ball he saw in the bottom of the first inning. Lance McCullers Jr., the starting pitcher for Houston, became the first pitcher in World Series history to allow five home runs.
This was more than sufficient for Ranger Suarez, the unheralded left-handed starter for the Phillies, who scattered three singles over five scoreless innings against the formidable Astros offense. From that point on, Connor Brogdon, Kyle Gibson, Nick Nelson, and Andrew Bellatti each pitched a scoreless inning to complete the five-inning no-hitter and the Phillies’ first Fall Classic shutout since 1993.
Catcher JT Realmuto said of Suarez, a veteran Phillie who signed with the organization as a youngster in 2012, “He’s simply a guy with no heartbeat.” It appears that he is playing a child’s game.
Chas McCormick and Martin Maldonado reached base with two outs in the top of the fifth for the Astros, but Suarez induced a pop-up from Jose Altuve to retire the side. Moments later, Schwarber and Hoskins hit successive home runs, removing McCullers from the game and driving the sold-out crowd of 45,712 into a frenzy.
Dusty Baker, manager of Houston, remarked of McCullers, “It was baffling since he normally doesn’t allow home runs.” Typically, he keeps the ball within the ballpark. He was not content with it. We were quite surprised.”
Long-suffering Phillies supporters had waited 4,746 days for the return of World Series baseball to South Philadelphia; then one more day when Game 3 was postponed 24 hours due to heavy rain on Monday night; and they gave the American League champions an earful from the very first at-bat. Cheaters! Cheaters!” echoed throughout the night from the top deck, a reference to the Houston sign-stealing controversy that stained their one and only World Series triumph in 2017.
Harper made his World Series debut three years after signing a then-record $330 million, 13-year contract with the Phillies. Just stepping into the ballpark, just being back home, is such a momentum swing for us just because of our fan base,” he said. “We all come in here ready to play, and we’re excited to get on the field because we know that 46,000 people will be here screaming, yelling, and going nuts.
This entire city is ecstatic to be in this moment, and we’re ecstatic to be able to perform in front of them, have this opportunity, and simply be here with them.
On paper, the Fall Classic of this year appeared to be a historic mismatch. Houston won 19 more games than Philadelphia during the regular season, the greatest difference between World Series opponents in all but one of 118 editions. In 1906, the Cubs were defeated by the White Sox, who had won 93 games.
The Phillies, the last team to qualify for the playoffs and the first third-place team to ever reach the World Series, have ignited at the right time. They moved to six wins out of six at home in the postseason, with a total of 17 home runs in those contests, and are hell-bent on ending the series here rather than traveling to Houston for the final two games of the best-of-seven series.
Nick Castellanos, the right fielder for the Philadelphia Phillies, likened the team’s home-field advantage to a European soccer game, comparing it to a trip he made to Anfield to see Liverpool. Even as a home player, it’s difficult to play here, so I can’t fathom what the Astros are going through right now. They have almost no breathing room. This is a nice thing.”
The Phillies’ five home runs in a single World Series game tied the mark set by the 1928 New York Yankees, the 1989 Oakland A’s, and the 2017 Houston Astros, who were discovered to have used cameras and video monitors to steal the signals of opposition catchers.
More than two-thirds of the time, when the World Series was tied at one game apiece, the winner of Game 3 went on to win the championship (41 of 61 overall).
Due to Monday’s postponement, the series will begin with Game 4 on Wednesday night, with Houston’s Cristian Javier against Philadelphia’s Aaron Nola, who will be pitching with normal rest.
