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The Philadelphia Phillies are coming off a game in which they absolutely hammered the Houston Astros to take a 2-1 lead in the World Series.

Philadelphia jumped on Lance McCullers Jr. and never let up in the 7-0 victory Tuesday night, mashing five home runs off him to tie a World Series record for most home runs off single pitcher in a Fall Classic. Next, Cristian Javier will try to quiet down Philly’s monstrous bats in Game 4 on Wednesday night and prevent the Phillies from taking one step closer to one of the biggest upsets in World Series history.

Here are the best moments from Game 4.

Houston heats up

Phillies starter Aaron Nola held the Astros scoreless through four innings, but in the fifth inning, the dam broke.

Houston scored five runs in the fifth, taking a 5-0 lead with Astros starter Cristian Javier carrying a no-hitter through four innings.

The offensive onslaught started with a Chas McCormick single off of Nola followed by two more singles by Astros second baseman Jose Altuve and shortstop Jeremy Pena. With the bases loaded and no outs, Phillies manager Rob Thomson removed Nola from the game, bringing in lefty fireballing reliever Jose Alvarado.

But Alvarado immediately got off to a rough start, hitting Yordan Alvarez with a pitch, scoring McCormick to give Houston its first run of the night. Things only got worse from there for Philadelphia as Astros third baseman Alex Bregman knocked a double to right field, scoring Altuve and Pena and extending Houston’s lead to 3-0.

With both inherited runners scoring, Nola’s final pitching line was four innings pitched with three earned runs on seven hits, no walks and four strikeouts.

But the damage did not end with Bregman. Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker knocked a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Alvarez and moving Bregman to third base. Yuli Gurriel kept the offensive roll going, knocking a single into left field to score Bregman and extending Houston’s lead to 5-0. While Alvarado struck out Christian Vázquez and Aldemys Díaz to end the inning, the damage was done. — Joon Lee

Jayme Hoskins buys more beer for fans

Beer is on the Hoskins family.

Before Game 4 of the World Series, Jayme Hoskins — wife of Phillies first baseman Rhys — tweeted out a call for fans to meet her for beer at Citizens Bank Park.

Fans responded by meeting Hoskins and getting some beverages for the game.

The move from Hoskins followed up Game 3 when she bought a case of 50 beers for fans. — Lee

Pregame fashion

Game 4 lineups and pitchers

Starters: Cristian Javier (11-9, 148.2 IP, 2.54 ERA, 194 K) vs. Aaron Nola (11-13, 205 IP, 3.25 ERA, 235 K)

Houston Astros

1. Jose Altuve (R) 2B (.300 AVG, 28 HR, .921 OPS)
2. Jeremy Pena (R) SS (.253 AVG, 22 HR, .715 OPS)
3. Yordan Alvarez (L) DH (.306 AVG, 37 HR, 1.019 OPS)
4. Alex Bregman (R) 3B (.259 AVG, 23 HR, .820 OPS)
5. Kyle Tucker (L) RF (.257 AVG, 30 HR, .808 OPS)
6. Yuli Gurriel (R) 1B (.242 AVG, 8 HR, .647 OPS)
7. Christian Vasquez (R) C (.274 AVG, 9 HR, .714 OPS)
8. Aledmys Diaz (R) C (.243 AVG, 12 HR, .691 OPS)
9. Chas McCormick (R) CF (.245 AVG, 14 HR, .738 OPS)

Philadelphia Phillies

1. Kyle Schwarber (L) LF (.218 AVG, 46 HR, .827 OPS)
2. Rhys Hoskins (R) 1B (.246 AVG, 30 HR, .794 OPS)
3. J.T. Realmuto (R) C (.276 HR, 22 HR, .820 OPS)
4. Bryce Harper (L) DH (.286 AVG, 18 HR, .877 OPS)
5. Nick Castellanos (R) RF (.263 AVG, 13 HR, .694 OPS)
6. Alec Bohm (R) 3B (.280 AVG, 13 HR, .713 OPS)
7. Bryson Stott (R) SS (.234 AVG, 10 HR, .653 OPS)
8. Jean Segura (R) 2B (.277 AVG, 10 HR, .723 OPS)
9. Brandon Marsh (R) CF (.245 AVG, 11 HR, .679 OPS)

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Pirates ball-crusher Cruz accepts HR Derby invite

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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.

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Yanks moving Chisholm back to 2B after 3B stint

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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.

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White Sox reinstate OF Robert (hamstring) from IL

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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.

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