Realmuto’s 10th-game homer clinches five-run game to lift Phillies to World Series lead

HOUSTON – Kyle Tucker said he wanted to end this World Series quickly, and damned if the Houston Astros right fielder didn’t go all out to make it happen.

But like almost everyone in baseball, he underestimated the Philadelphia Phillies.

Facing their biggest deficit of the postseason — a five-run mound built on Tucker’s two home runs over three innings Friday night — the Phillies rallied to win their first game in centuries. They knocked out future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander in the fifth inning. Manager Rob Thomson handled it like it was game seven. And JT Realmuto hit a 6-5 solo homer in the 10th inning that would go down as one of the most unlikely in the Phillies’ 140-year history.

How unlikely is it? Teams leading by at least five runs were 589-18 in postseason history entering the night. The Phillies were 0-11 in the playoffs when trailing by five or more runs.

And consider the degree of difficulty. The Astros, a 106-win regular-season team, have yet to lose in the playoffs, going 7-0 en route to dispatching the Seattle Mariners in the divisional round and the New York Yankees in the AL Championship Series. Verlander, who will almost certainly win his third Cy Young Award this season, didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning and looked like he would never give up.

However, for some reason, nothing that happened next did not cause the slightest surprise. Not the two-out rally in the fourth inning in which Nick Castellanos had a two-out RBI single and Alec Bohm doubled. Not Realmuta, who tied the score with a two-run double in the fifth. Not Thomson’s move to bring in left-hander Jose Alvarado in the fifth inning or use Ranger Suarez, who started Game 3, in the seventh. Not even Castellanos’ sliding catch in right field to save a run in the ninth and send the game into extra innings.

The Phillies have been doing it all month, making their way into the playoffs with big game after big game, surprise win after surprise win.

Why stop now just because it’s the World Series?

On the eve of playing on baseball’s biggest stage for the first time in his career, Realmuto promised himself that he would stop whatever he was doing on the field before the first game, look around and take in the sights and sounds. The occasion demanded—no, it demanded—a few moments of thought.

For everyone. Twelve years, 11 months and 24 days after owner John Middleton knelt next to Ryan Howard in the clubhouse at Yankee Stadium and said, “I want my trophy back,” the Phillies were back on the national stage , lined up between home plate and third base with the World Series logo painted on the grass in front of them.

And for a few innings, it looked like the moment was too important for them.

Aaron Nola left a changeup over the plate for Tucker to launch into right field in the second inning. In the third, he gave up a leadoff double to Jeremy Penn, a one-out walk to Alex Bregman and a three-run homer to Tucker on a sinker that leaked back across the plate.

Verlander, meanwhile, sliced ​​up the Phillies, striking out the first 10 batters. Since Oct. 4, a five-inning no-hitter the night after they clinched a playoff spot, he has faced 26 Phillies batters without allowing a hit.

But from the second time through the order, everything changed. Rhys Hoskins lined a one-out single in the fourth inning for the Phillies’ first hit. Bryce Harper, Nick Castellanos and Alec Bohm then followed with two hits each. Castellanos lined a two-out single to left field to score Hoskins before Bohm doubled to left to cut the deficit to 5-3.

After Verlander went three innings in 36 innings, the Phillies forced him to pitch 31 in the fourth, 10 of which came on two outs against rookie Bryson Stott. Ten up, 10 down followed with eight of the next 13 batters reaching base (six hits, two walks).

In doing so, the Phillies chipped away at some of Verlander’s undefeated streak — and possibly the Astros, too.

It took four innings, but the Phillies were back in the World Series.

Did Tucker or anyone else really think they would be leaving soon? Is it quiet?

No chance.