The Philadelphia Phillies won 7-0 against the Houston Astros on Tuesday night, taking a commanding 2-1 lead in the 2022 World Series.
Ranger Suarez was magnificent from the mound, tossing five scoreless innings, and the Phillies bullpen hurled four additional scoreless frames.
However, the story of the night was Philadelphia’s prolific offensive showing.
The Phillies hit five home runs against Astros starter Lance McCullers Jr.
Their hitters seemingly noticed that McCullers’ delivery and windup was different when throwing certain pitches.
The Astros apparently didn’t notice that their starter was tipping his pitches.
“There was nothing for Dusty Baker to believe that Lance McCullers was tipping pitches in Game 3,” The Sporting News tweeted, with a quote from the Astros skipper: “We didn’t see anything. Sometimes, they just hit you.”
There was nothing for Dusty Baker to believe that Lance McCullers was tipping pitches in Game 3. pic.twitter.com/AKZH0qReMs
— 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬 (@sportingnews) November 2, 2022
It could definitely happen: a hurler might be tipping his pitches, but nobody in his dugout notices.
Phillies Hitters Obliterated McCullers
The Phillies hitters definitely had a better view of the windup.
Pitch tipping or not, Baker probably should have removed McCullers from the game way sooner.
Perhaps if he had done that, the Astros offense might have been able to slowly chip in and get into the game.
The game was 4-0 when Philadelphia went to bat to close the fifth frame.
Baker was already tempting his fate by letting McCullers in to face the top of the order for a third time.
Brandon Marsh singled after having already homered earlier: that should have been Baker’s first sign.
Kyle Schwarber proceeded to send a ball to the moon, and then Rhys Hoskins followed with another long ball.
That’s when Baker removed McCullers, with a 7-0 deficit.
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