*Photo from Sports Illustrated*
Series tied 1-1
They blew the lead they had to start the series, and they didn't want to do it again. Yordan Alvarez doubled in a run, Alex Bregman homered, and the Houston Astros defeated the Philadelphia Phillies with a 5-2 victory on Saturday night in Houston.
In game one, the Astros took a 5-0 lead early, only to watch the Phillies storm back and rip the win out of their hands. They had another 5-0 lead in game two, but once it became clear that the pitching was simply dominant, it didn't feel like they were giving this one up, despite a few late Phillies runs.
Leading the charge for the Astros were Bregman and Alvarez, with Alvarez getting on base twice and driving in a run, while Bregman provided two runs with one swing. Now, the series is tied 1-1 ahead of 3 games in Philadelphia, before it would come back to Houston if necessary.
Astros manager Dusty Baker said of the win that "It was almost a mathematical must, actually, because it's tough when you lose the first two games at home. It is good for the city, good for our fans, that they went home happy after last night, people were kind of sick about last night. So you have to have a positive attitude throughout the city, and that vibe radiates to us. It was great to win that first game."
With the first batter of the game for Houston, Jose Altuve, on base, Jeremy Pena, the second batter of the game, doubled him home, making it 1-0 early. The next batter was Alvarez, who doubled home Pena to quickly make the lead 2-0. Alvarez then scored on a throwing error from Edmundo Sosa to give the Astros a 3-0 advantage.
The Astros did not score again until the 5th inning, when Bregman hit a two run home run to left center field, making the lead 5-0. In the 7th, Jean Segura got the Phillies on the board with a fly out to Aledmys Diaz, deep enough to score Nick Castellanos and make it a 5-1 game. Alec Bohm scored in the 9th on a fielding error from Gurriel, but the Astros slammed the door from there.
Starting for the Astros was Framber Valdez, who put on a show for the home crowd. Valdez got the win with one run on 4 hits in 6 1/3 innings, striking out 9 hitters. Rafael Montero came on and pitched the next 1 2/3 innings, with Ryan Pressly locking it down in the 9th inning.
Astros starting catcher Martin Maldonado gave his thoughts on Valdez's start, saying that "He did what he’s been doing all year, attacking the strike zone and getting out of trouble, maintaining his focus, maintaining his confidence. We weren’t expecting anything less from him."
It was Zack Wheeler's turn to start in game two for the Phillies, and he got hit to the tune of 5 runs on 6 hits in 5 innings pitched, getting tagged with the loss. The Phillies used a bullpen trio of Andrew Bellatti, Connor Brogdon, and Brad Hand to keep the Astros off the scoreboard after that.
Wheeler reflected on his start, saying that "They were just aggressive, and I left those balls right over the heart of the plate. That’s what a good team does with it. I tried to obviously match their aggression and get off the corners a little bit more, and they just came out swinging and the balls were right down the middle. I just need to execute a little better."
After a day off on Sunday, the series shifts east to Philadelphia for games 3, 4, and 5, with game 3 taking place on Monday. Both teams will try to take a 2-1 series lead, with Noah Syndergaard getting the start for the Phillies and Lance McCullers Jr starting for the Astros.
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