Connect with us

Published

on

HOUSTON — Shaking off a foul ball he took to the mask earlier in the game, Philadelphia Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto hit a tiebreaking home run in the 10th inning, leading to a stunning 6-5 victory against the Houston Astros in Game 1 of the World Series on Friday night.

“Just ecstatic to put a good swing on that pitch, be able to give our team the lead,” Realmuto said after the dramatic win. “We did such a good job fighting back there.”

The Phillies scored six runs after trailing 5-0 early in the game, becoming the sixth team all time to overcome a five-run deficit to win a World Series game. Astros manager Dusty Baker has been on the losing end on the past two, with the other coming with the 2002 San Francisco Giants in a loss to the Angels.

The Phillies’ second time through the order Friday night against Astros ace Justin Verlander proved to be fruitful as Philadelphia scored three runs off him in the fourth and two more in the fifth to tie the score at 5. Verlander was perfect through the first three innings.

“I think the second time [through] you’ve seen it once,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said of Verlander’s pitches. “So there’s some familiarity there. So I think that’s why we had some success off him the second time.”

The Astros jumped to a lead thanks to two home runs in back-to-back innings by right fielder Kyle Tucker. After the Phillies tied the score at 5-5 on a two-run double by Realmuto in the fifth, Thomson managed the rest of the night with urgency, beginning with his decision to bring in reliever Jose Alvarado in the fifth inning.

“I think once we scored the three you were kind of feeling it,” Thomson said. “Like, we got back in this thing, now the momentum has changed. And that’s really why I went to Alvarado in the fifth inning, which I haven’t done all year, because I thought that the momentum changed there. [It] was so important to keep that momentum, get through those guys, and we’ll figure out the rest later.”

The Phillies’ bullpen was spectacular, throwing 5⅔ shutout innings as Thomson used all of his high-leverage arms, including scheduled Game 3 starter Ranger Suarez.

“So what went into it was, today’s a side [bullpen] day for Game 3, so we thought, OK, we’ve got that one pocket, Alvarez to Tucker, that’s a pretty big pocket, and thought, we’ll put him in if that situation comes up,” Thomson said. “If not, that’s fine. And it came up.”

Thomson didn’t rule out Suarez for Game 3 after he threw just 11 pitches on Friday. His performance helped bridge the gap to the late innings, with Seranthony Dominguez getting two outs in the eighth and three in the ninth to pitch the Phillies into extras.

But a single and stolen base by Jose Altuve put the winning run on second in the bottom of the ninth. That’s when shortstop Jeremy Pena blooped a ball into right field, where Nick Castellanos made a magnificent, inning-ending sliding catch to preserve the tie.

“I felt like I read the swing pretty well, and as soon as I saw the direction of the ball I felt like I got a good jump on it,” Castellanos said.

Castellanos took a few steps in after Altuve reached second. Those extra yards proved to be helpful as he closed the gap on the ball.

“I just thought he had a better chance of trying to bloop something in there than torching something over my head,” Castellanos said. “So that was kind of my thought process there, just thought of it on the fly.”

The catch kept the game alive for Realmuto’s heroics in the 10th. He deposited a 3-2 fastball by Astros reliever Luis Garcia into the right-field stands, sending his dugout into a frenzy.

It’s a moment Realmuto said he has imagined since he was a kid.

“I mean whiffle ball games in the backyard, the whole 3-2, bases-loaded, two-out situation,” he said. “I probably had 7,000 at-bats in that situation growing up.”

It almost never came Friday after Realmuto took a foul ball to the mask, leading to a delay as the Phillies’ training staff attended to him. He stayed in the game.

“Honestly, my head wasn’t the problem,” Realmuto said. “It just smoked my jaw pretty good. It’s probably not going to be very easy for me to eat dinner tonight, but as long as my head’s OK, I’ll be good to go.”

The Astros left the tying and winning runs on base in the bottom of the 10th as Tucker struck out and pinch-hitter Aledmys Diaz grounded out.

Realmuto is the first catcher with an extra-inning home run in the World Series since Carlton Fisk’s walk-off homer in Game 6 of the 1975 series.

Castellanos was asked what the vibe in the dugout was after his team went down 5-0.

“Let’s go to work,” he said. “We’ve been there before. I think that’s what this team does so well. We know there’s no quit, really. We really respect all 27 outs and we take that seriously, and we take it personal.”

The loss was the first for the Astros this postseason.

Game 2 is Saturday night. The Astros will start lefty Framber Valdez, and the Phillies will counter with right-hander Zack Wheeler.

Continue Reading

Sports

Pirates ball-crusher Cruz accepts HR Derby invite

Published

on

By

Pirates ball-crusher Cruz accepts HR Derby invite

Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Oneil Cruz accepted an invitation on Tuesday to compete in Monday’s Home Run Derby in Atlanta.

Cruz is the fifth player to commit to the competition, held one day before the All-Star Game. The others are Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Atlanta Braves, Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners, James Wood of the Washington Nationals and Byron Buxton of the Minnesota Twins.

Cruz, 26, is known for having a powerful bat and regularly delivers some of the hardest-hit homers in the sport. His home run May 25 at home against the Milwaukee Brewers had an exit velocity of 122.9 mph and was the hardest hit homer in the 10-year Statcast era.

But Cruz has never hit more than 21 in a season, and that was in 2024. He’s on track to set a new high this year and has 15 in 80 games.

Cruz has 55 career homers in 324 games with the Pirates.

Cruz will be the first Pittsburgh player to participate in the Derby since Josh Bell in 2019. Other Pirates to be part of the event were Bobby Bonilla (1990), Barry Bonds (1992), Jason Bay (2005), Andrew McCutchen (2012) and Pedro Alvarez (2013).

Overall, Cruz is batting just .203 this season but leads the National League with 28 steals.

Among the players to turn down an invite to the eight-player field are two-time champion Pete Alonso of the New York Mets, Kyle Schwarber of the Philadelphia Phillies and 2024 runner-up Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals.

Defending champion Teoscar Hernandez of the Los Angeles Dodgers recently turned down a spot as a consideration to nagging injuries.

Top power threats Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers also are expected to skip the event.

Continue Reading

Sports

Yanks moving Chisholm back to 2B after 3B stint

Published

on

By

Yanks moving Chisholm back to 2B after 3B stint

New York Yankees All-Star Jazz Chisholm Jr., after making 28 starts in a row at third base, is moving back to second base starting with Tuesday’s game against the Seattle Mariners, manager Aaron Boone said.

Boone confirmed the change on the “Talkin’ Yanks” podcast on Tuesday.

Chisholm, who is batting .245 with 15 home runs, 38 RBIs and 10 steals in 59 games, has recently been bothered by soreness in his right shoulder, which he said is an issue only on throws.

He said he prefers to play second base and prepared in the offseason to exclusively play in that spot before injuries played havoc with Boone’s lineup card, starting with Chisholm’s oblique injury in May.

Third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera went down with a season-ending ankle injury on May 12.

DJ LeMahieu manned second base while Chisholm was at third, but Boone has a better glove option in Oswald Peraza, a utility man with a stronger arm plus defensive skills across the infield.

LeMahieu, 36, is batting .266 with two home runs and 12 RBIs this season.

Continue Reading

Sports

White Sox reinstate OF Robert (hamstring) from IL

Published

on

By

White Sox reinstate OF Robert (hamstring) from IL

The Chicago White Sox reinstated outfielder Luis Robert Jr. (hamstring) from the 10-day injured list Tuesday.

Robert, 27, has struggled this season through career lows in batting average (.185), on-base percentage (.270) and slugging percentage (.313). Through 73 games, he has amassed just 16 extra-base hits (eight doubles, eight home runs) in 285 plate appearances.

He does have 22 stolen bases in 28 attempts and is just one shy of his career- high in steals.

In a corresponding move, the White Sox optioned infielder Tristan Gray to Triple-A Charlotte. Gray was just recalled before Monday night’s game but did not play.

Continue Reading

Trending