Phillies Take Game One From Astros in Extras 6-5

Houston: A Blowout turned into a Slugfest that turned into a pitcher's duel last night at Minute Maid Park in Houston. This was an amazing game one that gave you great defence. Great pitching ( depending on the inning ) and clutch turns at the plate by both the Astros and the Phillies.

Aaron Nola and Justin Verlander both took the mound to start the game. I was expecting early fireworks from the hill but it turned out Nola would need to find his sealegs. Kyle Tucker got the scoring going for the Astros with a solo homerun in the second inning.The Astros had runners on the corners with one out, Dusty Baker decided to call for a Hit and Run and Martin Maldonado gave Houston a 2-0 lead with an RBI single.. Houston was in the same spot an inning later, but they didn't settle. Instead, Tucker went deep again, making it a 5-0 lead for the hometown team.

In the fourth inning, the about to be three time Cy Young winner Verlander allowed three runs on back-to-back two-out hits by Castellanos and Alec Bohm (who drove in two with a double). In the Phillies side of the fifth, Marsh doubled to shallow left and Schwarber worked a seven pitch walk to start the inning. J.T Realmuto drove them both in with a double to tie the game. Verlander was done after five. In eight world series starts has a 6.07 ERA.

That's where the scoring ended until extras. This was a bullpen dule. Dusty Baker used Abreu - Montero and Presley to get through the Ninth while the Phillies countered with Alverado - Eflin - Suarez and Dominguez. Onto Free Baseball. God, I love REAL free baseball.

In the tenth frame Dusty sent Baby Rocking Luis Garcia to the mound and Realmuto promptly rocked the sixth pitch 350 feet into the right field stands. Dave Robertson took the save and handed the Phillies a series changing game one win.