Realmuto real clutch! Late HR lifts Phillies in WS G1

HOUSTON — J.T. Realmuto had already tied Game 1 of the World Series five innings earlier. But when the Fightin’ Phillies were in need of one more magic moment Friday night at Minute Maid Park, their catcher came through again.

Realmuto’s homer to right off Luis Garcia to open the top of the 10th gave the Phillies the go-ahead run in a 6-5 victory over the Astros that once again showed off this Philadelphia squad’s resilient spirit.

“It’s incredible. I’m just so thankful for this opportunity,” Realmuto said on the field after the game. “I thank God for being able to come out here and play this wonderful game. I can’t say enough about my teammates tonight. The bullpen was amazing. The way we fought back in that game after being down 5-0, that’s a Phillies win right there.”

A Phillies team that entered October as the National League’s sixth seed and won a pennant few had forecast for them added more impressive feats to its ledger. The Phils became the first team in 20 years to win a World Series game it had trailed 5-0 (coincidentally, the last had also been against Dusty Baker, with the Angels’ 6-5 win in Game 6 of the 2002 World Series over Baker’s Giants) and became the first team in this tournament to beat the mighty ‘Stros, who had gone 7-0 in the American League Division Series and the AL Championship Series.

In all best-of-seven postseason series, teams winning Game 1 have gone on to win 121 of 187 times (65 percent). In series with the current 2-3-2 format, teams grabbing a 1-0 lead on the road have then won 39 of 69 times (57 percent), including the Phillies’ Game 1 victory over the Padres in the NLCS.

The Phillies overcame not one but two early Kyle Tucker homers off starter Aaron Nola by unloading against Justin Verlander in the fourth and fifth innings to erase what had seemed an Astro-nomical edge. In the fourth, a would-be inning-ending double-play ball popped out of Verlander’s glove to leave a runner aboard with two outs, and the Phils pounced on the mistake with back-to-back singles by Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos, followed by a two-run double from Alec Bohm to make it 5-3. Then, with two aboard in the fifth, Realmuto hammered a double off the left-field wall to bring both runners home and even the score.

Both clubs dipped into their bullpen earlier than hoped, but the early moves got results. Phillies manager Rob Thomson aggressively deployed high-leverage lefty José Alvarado in the fifth, presumed Game 3 starter Ranger Suárez in the seventh and top option Seranthony Domínguez in the eighth. Domínguez got into a two-out jam in the bottom of the ninth when Jose Altuve singled and swiped second, but Castellanos made a terrific diving catch of a Jeremy Peña fly ball to shallow right to end the inning. The Astros got a particularly huge out in the seventh, when former Phillie Héctor Neris was summoned with two outs by Baker to get Castellanos chasing strike three with the bases loaded.

And so the game remained knotted at 5-5 and drifted into extras, but it didn’t remain tied for long there. Realmuto worked the count full against Garcia, then hammered a four-seamer on the outside edge of the zone for the opposite-field blast. In the bottom of the 10th, Alex Bregman’s one-out double put the pressure on reliever David Robertson, who walked Yuli Gurriel with two outs and threw a wild pitch to put both runners in scoring position. Pinch-hitter Aledmys Díaz’s bouncing grounder to third was scooped up by Edmundo Sosa and thrown to first in time to cap this instant classic.

“It’s incredible … We’re down five, we face adversity, and we do what we always do — we find a way to win and just pass the baton and keep something going,” Castellanos said on the field after the game. “How long did we have the lead for in the game? Maybe 15 minutes? Sometimes that’s all you need.”