The Phillies gave their fans exactly what they wanted on Tuesday night, clobbering the Astros 7-0 in their first World Series home game. Five different Phillies hitters bashed home runs, while Ranger Suárez was absolutely dominant on the mound.
Nick Castellanos set the right tone early, making a tremendous sliding grab to rob Jose Altuve for the first out of the game. Things kept pointing up in the bottom of the first, with Bryce Harper launching a two-run moonshot off of Lance McCullers Jr. to give the Phils an early lead.
After Harper pulled Alec Bohm aside to whisper some advice, Bohm led off the bottom of the second with a solo shot of his own, giving the Phillies a 3-0 lead. Brandon Marsh added another solo blast in the frame, bringing the score to 4-0 Phillies.
Things settled down until the fifth inning, when Kyle Schwarber crushed a two-run bomb to straightaway center field. Rhys Hoskins made it back-to-back jacks to give the Phillies an insurmountable 7-0 lead.
On the hill Ranger Suárez continued his run of domination twirling 5.0 brilliant shutout innings, surrendering only three hits and one walk, while punching out four. Because the Phillies racked up such a large lead so early, Manager Rob Thomson was able to pull Suárez after only 76 pitches and turn the game over to his lower-leverage relievers, keeping Suárez fresh for a possible game seven start or future bullpen work. Connor Brogdon, Kyle Gibson, Nick Nelson and Andrew Bellatti combined for 4.0 scoreless innings in relief, as the Astros faded quietly into the night.
Game three showed the Phillies’ path to championship in perfect detail. The offense mashed, the starting pitching dealt, and the bullpen held the lead for as long as was needed. Heck, even the defense showed up in this one. The Phillies haven’t always been clicking on all cylinders this year, but when they are it looks a lot like this.
It’s an excellent sign heading into a game four matchup between young Astros sensation Cristian Javier and Phillies ace Aaron Nola. If the offense can keep this up and jump on Javier early they’ll be in great shape. Hopefully, Nola will put the Phils in a position to win their first World Series since 2008 at home on Thursday night.
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