PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Bryce Harper hammered his sixth playoff homer, whispered an assist to Alec Bohm before his solo shot and the Philadelphia Phillies tied a World Series record with five homers to rout the Houston Astros 7-0 on Tuesday night and take a 2-1 series lead.
Brandon Marsh also homered, and Kyle Schwarber and Rhys Hoskins hit back-to-back shots in the fifth inning to chase down Astros starter Lance McCullers Jr. Philadelphia used the long ball to end the long wait for their first win at home in the World Series since Game 5. of the 2009 World Series.
Those Phillies couldn’t finish the job.
Ranger Suárez threw three hits in five innings and got this year’s team closer to their goal.
Harper, Bohm, Marsh and the rest of the Phillies from the last team to qualify for the playoffs are two wins away from finishing the season as the last team standing. With a sparkling 6-0 record at Citizens Bank Park in the playoffs, the Phillies might not return to Texas.
“It’s our fan base. I mean, plain and simple. Harper said. “They keep us going, keep us motivated.”
Another red, raucous, resolute crowd of 45,712 let the Astros have it on the first pitch with chants of “Cheater! Cheater!” for Jose Altuve and “Check the Bat! Check the Bat!” for Martin Maldonado.
The fans – already amplified from the jump after another slippery catch from right fielder Nick Castellanos in the first – didn’t wait long to go wild for the home run barrage.
With leadoff hitter Schwarber at first base, Harper repeated his flair for playoff power when he snatched a two-run shot from McCullers in the right seats of the field for an early lead. It made Harper 2-for-2 on home runs in Philadelphia — he sent the Phillies to the World Series with a two-run drive in Game 5 of the NL Championship Series to beat San Diego.
Harper crossed the plate and again exclaimed “This is my house!” before ripping off his helmet, exposing his Phillie Phanatic headband and being mobbed by his teammates in the dugout.
Harper’s circuits rock the stadium to the point that they should be measured on the Richter scale in feet instead – and they seem as automatic these days as a Phillie Phanatic lap on her mountain bike. Harper hit four playoff home runs that gave the Phillies the lead and showed that, yes, the Bryce Bombs are blowing up in November, the first time more World Series games will be played this month than in october.
Oh, and Harper could have a second career as a circuit whisperer.
Harper motioned Bohm to leave the circle on deck and return to the canoe for a little advice.
Maybe Harper saw McCullers tip the scales?
“I think it’s just general conversation,” Harper said. “Trying to get as much information as possible from each other. We just tried to get the best drummers we could.
Whatever the silent advice, it worked and Bohm lined up his first playoff homer to top the second inning and 1,000th in World Series history in the left field seats for a 3-0 lead. .
So come on, Alec, confess, what did Bryce tell you?
“It’s between us,” Bohm told TV with a shrug and a big smile.
Marsh took over on the long-ball throw and hit one into the right-field seats that was dropped by a young Delaware kid. The home run stood after a brief review — as it seems nothing can interfere with Philadelphia’s playoff push — and it was 4-0.
With that, McCullers had allowed four home runs to his first nine batters. The right-hander who had his left triceps tattooed with Houston winks got a tattoo from the Phillies.
Schwarber, the NL home run champion, again threw a two-point shot into a grove of English ivy, Arborvitae and Holly beyond center field, and Hoskins connected on a solo shot for a 7-0 lead that ended McCullers’ night.
McCullers became the first pitcher to give up five homers in a World Series game.
“We talked about it before the game, just trying to hit it early, trying to hit it often,” Harper said.
Suarez, the scheduled Game 4 starter before Game 3 was delayed a day by rain, delivered the performance of his career and stopped the big bats of the AL champions’ roster.
He needed just two pitches to get the first two outs of the game and retired Yordan Alvarez to finish the first. The few jams he got into, Suarez fought his way through, most notably in the second when he sniffed out Chas McCormick and left two runners stranded. He retired Altuve to finish fifth on a soft foul pop with two runners on base.
Four relievers each pitched a scoreless inning to complete the five hits.
THE CHAMPIONS ARE HERE
Philadelphia sports champions Mike Schmidt, Julius Erving, Brandon Graham and Bernie Parent threw their first pitches to 2008 World Series champions Ryan Howard, Cole Hamels, Jayson Werth and Shane Victorino. Country music star Tim McGraw, son of late Phillies reliever Tug McGraw, received a huge ovation and wore his father’s No. 45 McGraw jersey. McGraw closed the 1980 World Series with one strikeout.
NEXT
The Phillies send RHP Aaron Nola (2-1, 4.57 ERA in the playoffs) to the mound against Houston RHP Christian Javier (1-0, 1.35 ERA) in Game 4. Nola finished after 4 1/3 innings in Game 1 of the World Series, despite striking out the last six batters he faced and leaving in a draw after the Phillies rallied from an early 5-0 deficit – and won 6-5.
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