The Astros battled behind Justin Verlander to win Game 5 of the World Series over the Phillies 3-2. The hotly fought contest saw Verlander get the first World Series win of his career and the Astros defense turn some sparkling plays to seal the win.
The Astros are now one win away from their second title with Game 6 in Houston on Saturday night and Game 7, if necessary, at Minute Maid on Sunday.
WINNERS
Astros in Game 5s
After Thursday night’s win, the Astros are 4-0 in their last four World Series Game 5 appearances. They beat the Dodgers in an epic matchup in 2017, bested the Nationals in 2019, and took Game 5 from the Braves last season. They only won one of those series, however.
Justin Verlander, World Series ace
Before Thursday, the Astros ace was 0-6 in the World Series. His postseason record and ERA have generally been spotty as well. He certainly wasn’t the brilliant Cy Young Award winner we are accustomed to in Game 5, but he was good enough allowing just one run in five innings with six strikeouts and four walks. It was the one accomplishment he had yet to add to his resume until Thursday.
Jeremy Peña
They might want to change the phrase to “and a little rookie shall lead them” because the Astros shortstop has been perhaps the best Astro in this postseason. He hit his fourth home run of the playoffs in Game 5 and has five doubles and seven RBIs. He’s hitting well over .300 with an OPS approaching 1.000. The ALCS MVP might wind up being the World Series MVP if the Astros can close this out.
Astros defense
As a friend told us, defense may not win you the games, but it can certainly lose them for you. On Thursday night, we saw a bit of both. Peña snagged a hard hit liner early in the game, but it was a gem by Trey Mancini at first after replacing Yuli Gurriel, who left with an injury, followed by the play of the series when Chas McCormick robbed J.T. Realmuto of a double by making a leaping catch off the wall in right center field.
LOSERS
Yuli Gurriel’s head and knee
Gurriel’s first mistake was trying to sneak home on a softly hit grounder. His second was falling during the rundown because he not only twisted his knee and ankle, but got kneed in the head. Shots of him in the dugout afterward looked like a guy with a nasty hangover. After the game Manager Dusty Baker reported that Gurriel is day-to-day.
The other Houston team playing a team from Philly
You knew it was coming. The Texans hosted the Eagles while the Phillies took on the Astros and at least one team from the City of Brotherly managed a win. The Eagles are now 8-0 after a 29-17 win over the hapless Texans.
Philly big game heroics
The trademark of this Phils team has been resilience mixed with incredible late game hits, but the Astros have managed to stifle that fairly significantly in this series. Much of that is owed to the dominance of the ‘Stros bullpen. Like other teams have learned, the Phillies are finding out the Astros might be the most frustrating team in baseball to play.
Phillies defense
As we mentioned, defense can cost you games. There were multiple gaffes in Game 5 contrasted with the killer plays by the Astros. It was really the first time in this series where defensive miscues (and excellence) have factored significantly in a game and in this one it really showed who the better team in the field is.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2022.
