Phillies Take 1-0 World Series Lead, Win First World Series Game Since 2009
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The Philadelphia Phillies have yet to trail a series in the 2022 Major League Baseball playoffs.
Friday night, they once again took an early series lead, overcoming an early 5-0 deficit and defeating the Houston Astros 6-5 in game one of the World Series at Minute Maid Park in Houston. It was their fourth game one road victory of the postseason.
Kyle Tucker put the Astros on the board early, with a pair of home runs off Phillies starting pitcher Aaron Nola. Tucker hit home runs in back-to-back innings. His three-run blast in the bottom of the third inning put the Astros up 5-0.
Astros game one starter Justin Verlander once again struggled in a World Series start, blowing the Astros' five-run lead, allowing five runs on six hits and two walks, striking out five over five innings and 90 pitches.
Verlander now has an 0-6 record and a 6.07 ERA over eight career World Series starts.
The Phillies bullpen, once looked upon as a weakness in the regular season, pitched 5.2 innings, not allowing a single run, as the game went into extra innings Friday night.
Phillies manager Rob Thomson would use five different pitchers — Jose Alvarado, Zach Eflin, Ranger Suarez, Seranthony Dominguez and David Robertson — to record 17 outs.
In the bottom the ninth inning, Jeremy Pena nearly walked off the Phillies with a runner on second base, blooping a fly ball into shallow right field that appeared to be poised to fall in. Nick Castellanos raced in to make a remarkable sliding catch to end the inning.
In the top of the tenth, J.T. Realmuto would deliver the knockout blow to the Astros, blasting an opposite field home run to right and giving the Phillies a 6-5 lead.
In the inning's bottom half, David Robertson would pitch his way out of a jam, with runners on second and third, to give the Phillies their first victory in a World Series since game five of the 2009 World Series.
The Phillies take game one 6-5, and lead the World Series 1-0. The Astros now find themselves in a must-win game two Saturday night, before the series shifts to Philadelphia for game three, game four, and game five, if necessary, Monday through Wednesday.
