World Series: Phillies rally from five-run deficit, win Game 1 over Astros in 10 innings

HOUSTON — Maybe, now that they’re in the World Series, it’s time to stop being surprised at the Phillies.

The last team to qualify for the postseason — doing so with a win in game No. 160 of 162 and finishing with only 87 victories — stunned the Astros in Game 1 of the Fall Classic on Friday night, 6-5, in 10 innings, coming back from an early 5-0 deficit and finally going ahead on J.T. Realmuto’s home run. But that’s nothing new for them.

They already had shocked the Cardinals in their first game of the postseason, rallying from two down for six runs in the ninth inning to set the tone for a two-game sweep in that National League Wild Card Series. Upset victories over defending champion Atlanta and San Diego followed, sending the Phillies to their first World Series since 2009.

So after all that, there was no reason to expect the Phils to get overly worried when they fell behind 5-0 after three innings Friday night against the powerful Astros and Justin Verlander.

They didn’t. Shrugging off that deficit, the Phillies tied it after five innings and prevailed in front of a shocked crowd of 42,903 at Minute Maid Park.

It was the first loss of the postseason for the Astros, who swept the Mariners in their best-of-five Division Series and the Yankees in the best-of-seven American League Championship Series.

Realmuto, whose two-run double in the fifth tied it at 5-5, homered off righthander Luis Garcia to lead off the 10th, giving the Phillies a 6-5 lead. Rightfielder Kyle Tucker went back to the wall and leaped, but the drive went just above his glove.

Did Realmuto think it was gone off the bat? “No. Honestly, I thought I got enough of it, but I kind of had flashbacks of the play that Tucker made on [Aaron] Judge’s ball that last series, and once I saw him running back to the wall, I was thinking in my head, ‘oh, please just don’t catch it, just don’t catch it.’ I knew it was going to be close. I thought originally I had enough, but once I saw him running back to the wall, I wasn’t so sure.”

After former Yankee David Robertson allowed a one-out double by Alex Bregman in the bottom of the 10th, the righthander struck out Tucker, who homered twice earlier in the night, on a ball in the dirt. Robertson — nicknamed “Houdini” from his time with the Yankees for his propensity for putting runners on base but getting out of those jams — walked Yuli Gurriel and threw a wild pitch to advance the runners. Pinch hitter Aledmys Diaz then got ahead 3-and-0 before grounding to third to end it.

Verlander’s career World Series horror show, meanwhile, very much continued.

The 39-year-old righthander is the presumed AL Cy Young Award winner — it would be the third of his career — after going 18-4 with an MLB-leading 1.75 ERA in 28 starts. He entered the night 15-11 with a 3.55 ERA in 33 career postseason outings but was 0-6 with a 5.68 ERA in seven World Series starts.

“Disappointing,'' he said. "My team gave me a five-run lead and I wasn’t able to hold it. I feel really confident that 99% of the time that I’m able to hold that lead and unfortunately today I wasn’t . . .  I have to give a lot of credit to those guys in the other dugout. When I did make some pitches, they fouled them off or put them in play. And when I didn’t, they hit them hard. So like I said, they’re a great lineup, they’re hot, and if you don’t make your pitches, they’re going to hurt you.”

Verlander was perfect through three as the Astros built a 5-0 lead against Aaron Nola but allowed three runs in the fourth and two in the fifth.

After Tucker’s second homer, a three-run shot in the third, made it 5-0, the Phillies began their comeback in the fourth, forcing Verlander to throw 31 pitches. Rhys Hoskins singled with one out for Philadelphia’s first hit of the night and moved to second when Verlander couldn’t handle Realmuto’s liner back to the mound and threw him out at first. Bryce Harper singled to right and Nick Castellanos’ RBI single to left made it 5-1. Swinging at a first-pitch curveball, Alec Bohm rifled a two-run double to left to make it 5-3.

Brandon Marsh led off the fifth with a double and Kyle Schwarber walked. After Hoskins popped out, Realmuto’s two-run double off the wall in left-center made it 5-5.

Castellanos said of the feeling in the dugout when the Phillies were down 5-0: “Let’s go to work. We’ve been there before. I think that’s what this team does so well. We know there’s no quit, really. We really respect all 27 outs and we take that seriously, and we take it personal.”

Harper said of the “we’re not losing” mantra that has been adopted by the Phillies this postseason: “That’s our message to everybody. No matter what the score is.”

The Astros nearly won it against Seranthony Dominguez in the ninth. Jose Altuve blooped a two-out single to center and stole second. ALCS MVP Jeremy Pena blooped one to right and Castellanos, not known as the best of defenders, made a sliding catch to force extra innings.

The Game 1 winner has won each of the last four World Series, 16 of the last 19, 21 of the last 25 and 28 of the last 34.

Of those 34, the only teams to lose Game 1 and go on to win the Series are the 2017 Astros, the 2016 Cubs, the 2009 Yankees, the 2002 Angels, the 1996 Yankees and the 1992 Blue Jays.