Philadelphia : Turned on the World Series and a Home Run Derby broke out. Phillies lefty Ranger Suarez walked off the mound in the first inning last night at Citizens Bank Park after dispatching the first three Astros he faced as oblivious as the rest of America as to what was about to happen. I hope he enjoyed it as much as everyone outside of the state of Texas did.
It began as innocuous as could be. Kyle Schawarber worked a six pitch walk off Astros right hander Lance McCullers. Who then sat down Rhys Hoskins on strikes and worked an eight pitch out of J.T Realmuto, all he needed to do now was get Bryce Harper out. Yea that didn't happen. Harper saw exactly one pitch from the Astros hurler and deposited it 400 feet into the right field stands. It was 2-0 cheesesteaks and the derby was on.
In the bottom of the second Phillies third baseman Alec Bohem rewarded the fans in left field with a solo shot souvenir. Three batters later it was Brandon Marsh’s turn. Marsh took McCullers two ball no strike slider and sent it deep into the right field night.
In the fifth if you can believe it McCullers was still in the game. trailing 4-0 he got Segura to ground out to third but Marsh singled to right setting up Kyle Schwarber who hit a mammoth 445 foot blast to center plating Marsh and himself. Rhys Hoskins finished up the derby night with his own round tripper to left. 7-0 after five
And that's where the fireworks ended. Baker, who had hung Mccullers out to dry finally showed a bit of mercy or maybe someone had run to the concession stand to buy him a clue. pulled the righty for Jose Urquidy who gave up just two hits to Philadelphia’s big swinging Richards the rest of the way..Honestly Dusty, what were you thinking ? Did one of the toothpicks you constantly roll around in your mouth get lodged in your brain ? Last night you gave your team zero chance to take the lead in this 2022 classic. To the thrill of everyone outside of Texas.
Not to be lost in any of this was the outing Ranger Suarez and the Philadelphia pen had on Tuesday night. Suarez went 5 surrendering just 3 hits. Brogdon - Gibson - Nelson and Bellatti closed the game out for Rob Thomson each going an inning and giving up just a pair of hits for his trust.
Game four is set for tonight in Philly. Dusty Baker will send Cristian Javier and Thomson will counter with a fully rested Aaron Nola.
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