After one of the craziest comebacks in World Series history in game one, the Phillies looked completely lifeless in the series’ second contest. Much like Friday night, they fell into an early 5-0 hole, but unfortunately couldn’t muster enough magic to make up the deficit, falling to the Astros 5-2.
Game two started off eerily similarly to game one, with Zack Wheeler getting hit hard earlier just like Aaron Nola. Astros hitters started off their half of the first with three straight doubles, all of which came around to score. The third run came courtesy of Matt Vierling’s lackadaisical throw to third base when Yordan Alvarez tagged up, and an unusual throwing error from Edmundo Sosa.
Wheeler settled in for the next three innings, but ran into more trouble in the fifth, when Alex Bregman hit a two-out moonshot to put the Astros up 5-0. After walking Kyle Tucker, Wheeler induced a groundout from Yuli Gurriel to end the frame, but the damage was done.
The Phillies scratched across a run in the seventh on a Jean Segura sacrifice fly, but entered the eighth inning down 5-1. Bryson Stott started things off with an incredible plate appearance, working a walk off of Rafael Montero. Kyle Schwarber then gave Phils fans two consecutive heart attacks, first launching an absolute nuke only a few inches to the right of the right field fair pole, and then backing Astros right fielder Kyle Tucker up against the wall to reel in his fly ball. Both of Schwarber’s not-quite homers were the death knell for a Phillies squad that struggled to hit all night. The Phils were able to put up one more run in the top of the ninth on an error from first baseman Yuli Gurriel, but it was too little too late.
All in all, it was a disappointing game from a team that’s pulled many a rabbit out of their hat. They fell into an early hole, and this time just couldn’t dig themselves out of it. On the bright side, they managed to split the first two games in Houston, and are now headed back to an electric Citizens Bank Park for three more. Unfortunately, their co-aces both fell apart, and now they’ll look to Noah Syndergaard and Ranger Suárez to get them closer to a title. This team has bounced back from plenty of deflating losses this season, and they only need three more wins to call themselves world champions.