HOUSTON — Framber Valdez made a five-run lead stand up after Houston’s lightning first-inning burst, Alex Bregman homered and the Astros beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-2 Saturday night to tie the World Series at one game apiece.
Just like in Game 1, the Astros rushed to a 5-0 lead. Unlike ace Justin Verlander in the opener, Valdez and Houston held on.
Valdez rebounded from a pair of poor outings in last year’s Series to pitch shutout ball into the seventh, and the bullpen survived a couple of jams to close things out.
“Framber did a great job,” said Jose Altuve, who broke out of a 4-for-37 postseason slump with three hits. “Just amazing performance by him and our bullpen, as well.”
Schwarber, who led the NL with 46 home runs this season and added three more in the playoffs, then hit a long drive that was caught at the right field wall.
Ryan Pressly finished the combined six-hitter, giving up a run on an error by first baseman Yuli Gurriel on Brandon Marsh’s grounder.
Following the split in Houston, the Series resumes Monday night when Citizens Bank Park hosts the Series for the first time since 2009.
Of 61 previous Series tied 1-1, the Game 2 winner went on to the title 31 times — but just four of the last 14.
After struggling to a 19.29 ERA in a pair of Series starts in last year’s six-game loss to Atlanta, Valdez pitched with polish and poise. His cheeks glistening with sweat, the 28-year-old left-hander struck out nine and walked three, allowing four hits in 6 1/3 innings.
He blew by batters with a fastball averaging 95.6 mph and baffled them with his curve, which got six of his strikeouts — three of them looking. Unusually, he changed his glove and spikes mid-outing.
When the Phillies put two runners on for the only time against him in the sixth, Valdez struck out Game 1 star J.T. Realmuto with high heat, then got Bryce Harper to bounce a first-pitch sinker into an inning-ending double play.
“His sinker was fantastic. His curveball was pretty good,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “His putaway pitches were good.”
Thomson didn’t take issue with Valdez rubbing his palm — social media was abuzz, wondering if there was some substance there.
“The umpires check these guys after almost every inning and if there’s something going on MLB will take care of it,” Thomson said. “We saw it the last time he started, too.”
Nick Castellanos led off the Phillies seventh with a double and Valdez left after a groundout advanced the runner. Montero allowed Jean Segura’s sacrifice fly to the left-field warning track.
A day after the deflating defeat, the Astros came out swinging and became the first team to open a Series game with three straight extra-base hits.
Altuve lined a sinker into left, and Peña drove a curveball into the left-field corner for a 1-0 lead.
Alvarez fouled off a pitch and drove a slider high off the 19-foot wall in left.
“I was pulling for a fourth, actually,” Baker said. “Try to score as many runs as you can. Because you know Wheeler is one of the tougher guys in baseball.”
Wheeler should have escaped down just 2-0, but shortstop Edmundo Sosa bounced his throw to first on Gurriel’s three-hopper for an error, the ball glancing off the mitt of first baseman Rhys Hoskins.
Bregman, healthy after two injury-hampered seasons, hit a two-run homer to left in the fifth when Wheeler left a slider over the middle of the plate. Bregman has six career Series homers and three this postseason with nine RBIs.
Wheeler gave up five runs — four earned — six hits and three walks in five innings, a day after Aaron Nola struggled.
“I think everybody deserves a poor start every once in a while,” Thomson said. “Those guys have been so good for us for so long, and I fully expect them to come back and be ready to go and pitch well for us.”
BIG DIFFERENCE
Houston won 106 games during the season and Philadelphia 87, the second-highest win disparity in the Series behind the 93-win Chicago White Sox beat the 116-win Cubs in 1906.
UP NEXT
RHP Noah Syndergaard will start Game 3 for the Phillies and RHP Lance McCullers Jr. for the Astros. Phillies LHP Ranger Suárez will take the mound for Game 4, and likely LHP Cristian Javier for Houston.
