Phillies 5-5 Astros, bottom 6th inning

Speaking of “out,” so’s Alvarado. In is Zach Eflin, facing Yuli Gurriel. Gurriel takes a ball outside. 1-0. The next pitch is right down the middle for strike two. 1-1. He then hits a chopper, but Gurriel’s throw takes the first baseman just off the base. Still, a good attempt but the result is an Astro baserunner.

Phillies 5-5 Astros, bottom 6th inning

Here comes Alvarado’s toughest challenge: getting Kyle Tucker out. He’s accounted for four of Houston’s five runs. This time around he just hits the first ball he sees into the outfield for an out.

Oh wait, that’s why they call it the “out field.” My mind is blown.

Phillies 5-5 Astros, top 6th inning

Jean Segura is up yet again. It feels like he’s always up. He swings at Abreu’s first two offerings and falls into a 0-2 hole quickly. And make that 0-3. Wow, that’s a 1-2-3 top of the sixth with the Astros getting a chance to untie this in the bottom here.

Phillies 5-5 Astros, top 6th inning

Abreu’s first pitch to Stott, also a ball. The next two pitches are called strikes, so he’s down 1-2 quickly. They weren’t lying about this Houston pen, apparently. The next pitch? That’s called strike three.

Phillies 5-5 Astros, top 6th inning

Bryan Abreu is pitching for Houston which means that Verlander will, officially, not get his first World Series win tonight. Don’t worry, pitching wins are meaningless junk. If the Astros pull of a win here, he’ll be more than happy. Abreu is facing Bohm, who takes a ball. 1-0. He then flies out on the next pitch. That was quick.

Phillies 5-5 Astros, bottom 5th inning

Alex Bregman takes a strike, then swings away. 0-2. The next pitch is a ball, but Alvarado gets him to swing and miss. That was efficient and the Phillies keep it tied. Now they need to score runs and hope that their thin bullpen keeps the Astros off the board.

Nobody ever said winning a World Series game was supposed to be easy.

Phillies 5-5 Astros, bottom 5th inning

Alvarado is here to face the dangerous Álvarez. His first pitch is a ball but Álvarez pops up his second offering so that move has worked out so far.

Email from Richard Woods:

Good morning, Hunter. Here in China I got access to every game in the regular season on my mlb.com subscription, then the post season gets blocked. Thanks, MLB. Actually, to be fair to them, they did unblock the second game of the AL Wild Card series. As a Blue Jays fan, I really wish they hadn’t bothered.

Richard Woods

Not so shockingly, Rob Manfred’s MLB is not making it easy for fans to watch games anywhere.

And Aaron Nola is coming out and my notes say it’s Jose Alvarado coming in. Aggressive bullpen move from Philadelphia, let’s see if it pans out.

Phillies 5-5 Astros, bottom 5th inning

Nola is out for the fifth and, believe it or not, is currently not in line for a loss. Peña takes a ball and then swings out wildly. 1-1. The next pitch is too high. 2-1. Feels like that’s a common count this evening. Another wild swing from Peña. 2-2. And another swing-and-miss here for a leadoff strikeout for Nola.

Phillies 5-5 Astros, top 5th inning

Castellanos is up next. He fouls off a Verlander fastball and then another. 0-2. Astros fans get up to try to will a strikeout here. The next pitch is, however, a ball outside. 1-2. He reaches to stay alive. 1-2. He reaches and does not stay alive. That’s strike three and Verlander gets out of the inning without further damage but the game is tied.

Phillies 5-5 Astros, top 5th inning

We mentioned that Verlander has yet to win a World Series game before, right? Well, he was cruising for his first one until the Phillies did what they’ve been doing all postseason. Bryce Harper is up next with Realmuto on second. He takes a strike and then fouls one often. After taking a ball, he grounds out, getting Realmuto to third but making the inning’s second out.

Phillies 5-5 Astros, top 5th inning

J.T. Realmuto “For My Fake Friends, Fakemuto For My Real Friends) is up there and he fouls off his first pitch and then hits a double that scores both runners! It’s a tie game!

Phillies 3-5 Astros, top 5th inning

Hoskins is back up with a chance to really do some damage but instead of he flies one up to centerfield for the first out. That might have just extended Verlander’s outing.

Phillies 3-5 Astros, top 5th inning

Schwarber gets ahead of the count 2-0 before fouling off a Verlander first pitch and then taking strike two. 2-2. The next pitch is high. 3-2. Schwarber fouls the next pitch off. Still a full count. He takes the next pitch and the Phillies now have runners on first and second base with nobody out.

Phillies 3-5 Astros, top 5th inning

The Phillies have kept the Astros off the board. It’s time to see if they can score and Marsh does his best to get things going by hitting a leadoff double off of Verlander.

Phillies 3-5 Astros, bottom 4th inning

Altuve is up once more. He takes a strike. 0-1. And another strike 0-2. A generous zone, this. On the next pitch, Altuve gives the ball a ride but it’s a short one that ends in left field for a flyball out to end the inning. To the fifth!

Phillies 3-5 Astros, bottom 4th inning

Maldonado is up next. He fouls off one and just shortens his swing enough to take a ball. 1-1. The next pitch is also out of the zone and Maldonado doesn’t even attempt to swing. 2-1. He then grounds out to short for the second out of the inning.

Phillies 3-5 Astros, bottom 4th inning

McCormick is back out to face Nola, who is back out there. His first pitch is a ball, as is the second. He gets McCormick to swing and miss on his next two pitches. 2-2. And hey, how about a third straight swing-and-miss for his first out of the inning?

Possibly, but the game’s not anywhere close to over. That was a very promising counter-attack by the Phillies bats and now they have to see if Nola can keep the ‘Stros of the board.

Phillies 3-5 Astros, top 4th inning

Jean Segura is up now with two on and still two out. They just have refused to make the final out here and that’s been the reason that Philadelphia have decided that this is going to be a game.

And as I type that, Segura pops out to end the inning. Still, the point stands. The FOX booth goes to break to the tune of the Grateful Dead’s “Shakedown Street” and I approve.

Phillies 3-5 Astros, top 4th inning

Well this says something about the Phillies’ mentality. Meanwhile, Bryson Stott is up with Bohm on second. Verlander gets ahead 1-2 but throws a ball. Then Stott fouls two pitches off. 2-2. Make that three pitches off. Still 2-2. He nearly falls all the way over fouling the next pitch. Verlander’s up to 66 pitches. The next pitch is in the dirt. 3-2. The next pitch? Way too high and Stott has worked a walk. Emphasis on the “work” part.

Phillies 3-5 Astros, top 4th inning

And Bohm hits a double, it’s all of a sudden a two-run game! That’s an answer for you!

Phillies 1-5 Astros, top 4th inning

Just bad luck for Philadelphia there as that was just a little too hard-hit to get that runner in from second base completely safely. Castellanos is up next with a chance here, but he quickly fouls off the next two pitches to fall into a 0-2 hole. He just barely holds on to his swing on a slider quite far away from where he could have possibly hit it. On 1-2, Castellanos golfs a base hit that scores Hoskins and sends Harper to second.

Phillies 0-5 Astros, top 4th inning

Runner in scoring position for Bryce Harper, batting with two outs. Harper hits a base hit but Hoskins can’t score from second and has to stay at third base.

Phillies 0-5 Astros, top 4th inning

Verlander gets into a 0-2 count on Realmuto. The heart of the order is up here with Hoskins on base. He hits a comebacker to Verlander who is able to corral the ball and toss it to first for the out. Hoskins makes it to second on the play, however.

Phillies 0-5 Astros, top 4th inning

Hoskins with a base hit. So, no no-no for Justin Verlander this game.

Phillies 0-5 Astros, top 4th inning

This might be a big inning for Philadelphia. Do they start chipping away at the lead or they fold? Schwarber is up next and he’s definitely the team’s best bit to start making things happen. Unfortunately, Verlander is still in the game.

Verlander throws a pitch out of the zone. 1-0. Schwarber swings at the next pitch, makes no contact. 1-1. He gets a strike call on the next pitch and then fouls the next one off. 1-2. The next pitch looks a bit like strike three but gets called a ball. 2-2. On the next pitch Schwarber flies out to center.

Phillies 0-5 Astros, bottom 3rd inning

Mancini is up here. He takes a strike and fouls a ball off. He’s down 0-2, but again the last time Nola got a batter in that count it ended badly for him. Mancini fouls another off, still 0-2. He then grounds out to short. The inning is over but Houston is up big early.

Phillies 0-5 Astros, bottom 3rd inning

So I’m thinking that this is the Kyle Tucker Game unless the Phillies pull off a massive comeback. Meanwhile, this inning continues for Nola, who now has to face Yuli Gurriel. The good news is that the bases are empty? Gurriel takes the first three pitches and comes out ahead 2-1. He then fouls the next pitch off. 2-2. He then grounds out into the infield and that’s finally the second out of the inning.

Phillies 0-5 Astros, bottom 3rd inning

And here’s Tucker again. He has a chance to be a hometown legend this at-bat. He hits Nola’s first pitch foul and then takes a strike. 0-2. Nola tries to get him to chance with a low ball but there’s no dice. 1-2. He wouldn’t mind a strikeout right here, one imagines. The next pitch is a ball in the dark. Didn’t get it there. 2-2. Tucker breaks his bat on the next pitch, the ball goes foul and out of play. Still 2-2. The next pitch is outside. 3-2. A much tougher at bat than this seemed it would be after Tucker fell 0-2. The payoff pitch.. Tucker hits yet another home run! OH MY GOODNESS!

Phillies 0-2 Astros, bottom 3rd inning

Alex Bregman is up with a chance to drive in a third run the easy way. He takes Nola’s first pitch as a ball, then does the same with the second. 2-0. Nola’s third pitch in the at-bat is called a strike looking. 2-1. Bregman has yet to swing. Ball three. Still no swing. 3-1. And he doesn’t swing at ball four. It’s now first and third. Still just one out.

Phillies 0-2 Astros, bottom 3rd inning

Álvarez legs out an infield single that lets Peña make it to third. However, the Phillies challenge it and they may be right. It looks like he’s out on replay. And, indeed, he’s out at first but the runner at third remains with just one out.

Phillies 0-2 Astros, bottom 3rd inning

Peña is up again for the Astros in the bottom of the third. Houston have already scored the amount of runs I had them winning in my prediction, so I’ve found myself in the weird position of hoping for absolutely no further baseball action. Nola starts him off with a ball. 1-0. Peña swings and misses and then… tries to bunt himself on? Weird leadoff strategy, but the ball goes foul so no harm, no foul.

Well, okay, so that counts as a strike so there’s a little bit of harm and the ball did go foul so maybe that was the wrong expression.

In any case, He fouls a ball off and then hits a double. The lesson: never bunt.

Phillies 0-2 Astros, top 3rd inning

Brandon Marsh pops up on the first pitch he sees, but it’s out of play so it’s just a strike. 0-1. Marsh has one of those old-timey prospectors’ beards. In fact, this is a bit of a hairy ballclub in general, very much not a dress code like the Yankees. Marsh fouls the next pitch off and then takes strike three. So Verlander faces the minimum through three.