Oct 29 (Reuters) – The Houston Astros made another fast start against the visiting Philadelphia Phillies but this time around held it together through some drama-filled late moments for a 5-2 victory on Saturday that squared the World Series at one game apiece.
Houston blew a commanding 5-0 lead in Friday’s opening game of the best-of-seven Major League Baseball championship for their first loss of the postseason and were once again put to the test by a relentless Phillies team.
“They were always threatening over there, as you saw, how they came back on us yesterday,” Astros manager Dusty Baker told reporters.
“But this team has a short memory on bad occurrences and bad games.
“You can’t bring yesterday into today or else it will continue. You have to start all over again and just realize it’s a new day and hopefully we have a different outcome.”
The Astros began the game with three consecutive doubles for a 2-0 lead and were gifted another run before the first inning was over, after a throwing error by Phillies shortstop Edmundo Sosa on a routine ground ball with two outs.
It marked the first time in history a team started a World Series game with three consecutive extra-base hits.
Houston then opened up a 5-0 lead when third baseman Alex Bregman blasted a two-run homer to left center field in the bottom of the fifth inning.
With the Astros ahead 5-1 and six outs away from victory, Phillies left fielder Kyle Schwarber narrowly missed hitting a two-run homer twice in consecutive swings.
The first instance came when Schwarber fired a ball down the right-field line that was initially ruled a homer and saw him circle the bases before a review correctly deemed the ball hooked foul.
On the next pitch, Schwarber’s ball sailed to the warning track where it landed in the outstretched glove of Kyle Tucker right in front of the outfield wall.
“Well, it looked foul to me, but the umpire called it fair, and then they got together, called it foul. I just went out and I said: ‘Why don’t we just check it just to make sure it just didn’t clip off the foul pole,'” said Phillies manager Rob Thomson.
“And you don’t see it too often where a guy hits a foul home run and then hits a fair home run, but he almost pulled it off. That would have been nice.”
Astros starting pitcher Framber Valdez delivered a gem as the All-Star left-hander surrendered just one run on four hits while tying his postseason career high with nine strikeouts across 6-1/3 innings.
The Phillies’ runs came on a sacrifice fly that brought in Nick Castellanos in the seventh inning and with two outs in the ninth, when a fielding error by first baseman Yuli Gurriel allowed Alec Bohm to score.
The World Series now shifts to Philadelphia for the next three contests, starting with Game Three on Monday.
Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Edmund Klamann
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