2022 World Series Game 2 Phillies vs Astros summary: score, stats and updates

Summary

The Astros needed that comeback and the real story of the night is Framber Valdez. Throwing 6.1 innings, he was absolutely electric, surrendering only one run on four hits and ringing up nine.

Heading into Philadelphia, the Astros will need all the help that they can get, and Valdez’s performance protects the Houston bullpen.

The Phillies can feel happy that they managed to take Game 1 and split the series. Road wins in the World Series are often the difference between winning and just taking part.

Bregman continues to have a hot bat and Jose Altuve managed to get a couple of quality hits tonight that can help snap his funk going forward.

The World Series moves to Philly on Monday and Houston will have a tough hill to climb on the road. They will be looking to repeat Philadelphia’s trick of splitting the series and taking a game or two.

That is going to be it from our live coverage, but join us again on Monday for Game 3.

Breggy bombs

This hit was massive

The story of the game

Framber Valdez was electric in six innings.

Even it up

This is going to be a great World Series

Astros win

Stott comes up and grounds out to Altuve to end the ballgame. The Astros win 5-2.

Phillies score

He hits one right at Yuli Gurriel's feet, but it squeaks through for an error on the first baseman. Bohm scores on the play and Marsh gets a double out of the deal.

Brandon Marsh tries to keep it alive for Philly now.

He hits one to Kyle Tucker in right field, not deep enough to advance the runner. The Phillies are now down to their final out.

Jean Segura will try and push Bohm across the plate now.

Alec Bohm bangs one off the wall in left center field for a double.

Pressly gets Castellanos swinging on a strike three change up.

Nick Castellanos scored the only run of the game for the Phillies back in the seventh, and he will be looking to repeat that at-bat here.

The Astros bring Mauricio Dubon into left field as well.

Top 9 - Phillies 1-5 Astros

The Phillies are down to their last three outs. Castellanos, Bohm, and Segura will have the weight of a city on their shoulders, trailling 5-1 in the ninth.

The Astros bring out their ace closer Ryan Pressly to tray and slam the door shut.

Yuli Gurriel pops one to left field, but directly at Schwarber for the final out.

Kyle Tucker comes to the plate and chops one to first for the second out.

Bregman now has the most World Series home runs by a third baseman with six.

But the follow up at-bat is what is important, and in this case, he goes down swinging.

Bottom 8 - Phillies 1-5 Astros

Brad Hand takes over the pitching for Philadelphia and faces Alex Bregman

Harper skies one to right. Four Astros converge on it and Peña comes away with the catch to end the threat.

Bryce Harper now comes to the plate with runners at first and third, a very dangerous position for the Astros.

Realmuto hits one to Peña, who flips it to Altuve. Jose was ducking down, expecting the throw to go to first. The ball rolls to first and Stott takes third in the melée.

With one out and a man on first, Rhys Hoskins chases three fastballs and comes up empty.

The count is 2-2 and he will try and do it again. He hits one deep to right field. Kyle Tucker catches it with his back at the wall. Schwarber missed a home run by about a foot.

Video review confirms that the ball was indeed a foul. But it only missed by inches.

Schwarber cranks a monster of a home run just inside the foul pole. The Astros will look at it to make sure, and Schwarber doesn't run the bases. It looks like he thinks that it is a foul ball too.

A leadoff walk brings up the top of the order in the form of Kyle Schwarber.

Stott fights off a ton of pitches, 12 in total, before drawing the walk.

Top 8 - Phillies 1-5 Astros

Montero stays in for Houston, facing Stott to start the eighth.

Yordan Álvarez comes out swinging, and goes down the same way. That is the end of seven and it is 5-1 Houston.

Peña takes the next pitch to deep center, where Vierling gets under it for the out. Two down.

Altuve takes off but Realmuto guns him down. It was a terrific jump and the throw was on the wrong side of the bag, but Jean Segura got the tag in. No doubt.

Jeremy Peña comes up and shows bunt before pulling it back.

He gets a quick 0-2, before throwing a high ball. Altuve swings at it anyway and slaps it into right field for a single.

Altuve might be the best bad ball hitter in the MLB.

Bottom 7 - Phillies 1-5 Astros

Connor Brogdon takes over on the mound and will face Jose Altuve.

Nick Maton pinch hits for the Phillies and hits one on the screws, but directly at Bregman for the third out. The damage is limited, but the Phillies are now on the board, trailling 5-1

Phillies get on the scoreboard

Jean Segura ropes one to deep left. Diaz gets under it for the out, but Castellanos scores to get the Phillies on the board.

If that was hit ten feet further left, it would have easily been in the Crawford Boxes for a home run.

New Pitcher for Houston

The Astros hand the ball over to Rafael Montero to try and get out of the inning.

Dusty Baker now comes out and Framber Valdez gets a standing ovation. 102 pitches in 6.1 innings of scoreless baseball. He is still on the hook for Castellanos but what a great night for Valdez.

First pitch, Bohm hits it to Peña who makes the throw to first for the out. Castellanos advances to third.

Incredibly, Dusty Baker is not making a move. Valdez will pitch to Bohm.

Framber has thrown 101 pitches, which is a ton in modern baseball.

He gives up a double in the gap in left center to Castellanos. That should be the end of the road for Valdez. Great evenings work by the Dominican.

Top 7 - Phillies 0-5 Astros

The Astros bring on Valdez to start. He has been stellar, but after Verlander was unhittable for four, he went badly off the rails when he was left in too long.

Castellanos leads off against him.

He chases a slider for strike three to end the inning.

Martín Maldonado comes to the plate and reverts to Houston form. Super aggressive, which isn't a good idea for a poor hitter.

Working the count to 2-2, he pokes one up the middle, but Sosa is there and makes the throw to first for out number two.

Chas McCormick shows a bit of patience at the plate, perhaps the first Astro to have done so tonight.

Aledmys Diaz swings at the first pitch and pops it up to short for the first out.

Bottom 6 - Phillies 0-5 Astros

Andrew Bellatti takes over on the mound for Philadelphia.

Bryce Harper comes up first pitch swinging and hits one to second. Altuve turns it for the 4-6-3 double play to end the inning. Philly's first threat is neutralized and Valdez has now gone 6 innings, beautifully done.

Realmuto comes to the plate and Valdez works him into position before blasting a high fastball past him for out number one.

Hector Neris is now up in the Houston bullpen. Valdez is still looking good but Dusty won't want to make the same mistake that he did yesterday by holding onto a pitcher too long.

Hoskins slaps one through cover for a single. Schwarber moves to second and the Phillies are now a threat for the first time in the game.

Rhys Hoskins comes up and Valdez delivers a change up strike.

Top 6 - Phillies 0-5 Astros

Kyle Schwarber is up to lead off and works the count full. He is very patient as a hitter. The payoff misses and he draws the walk.

Andrew Bellati is now up in the bullpen for Philly.

Yuli Gurriel now comes up and hits a sharp ground ball to Bohm. Long throw gets him for the third out.

Kyle Tucker comes in and Wheeler is having trouble, throwing four balls. The Phillies bullpen needs to show some life pretty soon.

Bregman home run

Bregman hits a bomb! Huge two-run home run to left center field. It got out of here in a hurry.

After review, the call stands. Again, it isn't that Sosa was definitely on the bag, but that there was not clear enough evidence to overturn it.

So now Houston has a runner at first base with two outs for Alex Bregman.

The umpire confirms that Houston are challenging the call of "out" at second base. It certainly looks like Sosa was not on the bag, but I don't know if there is enough to overturn the call.

Dusty Baker has now come out to speak to the umpires. It appears that he thinks that the catcher interfered with the play. Or maybe that Sosa wasn't on the bag at second.

Álvarez slaps one into the shift. They go to second and get Altuve, but the throw not in time to catch the surprisingly speedy Álvarez at first.

Wheeler pulls out a great curve ball and Peña chases it for strike three.

Jeremy Peña comes up and Wheeler is very preoccupied with Altuve, picking over to first twice. When he delivers the pitch, Altuve does not run.

The Astros are so aggressive with the bats that Wheeler is only on 55 pitches in the fifth inning. For a guy who has surrendered three runs, that is unbelievable.

Bottom 5 - Phillies 0-3 Astros

Altuve leads off for the Astros and hits a straight up the middle single to get us started.

Edmundo Sosa now up and works the count full. Valdez misses badly with a high curve before coming right back with a beauty of a fastball. Sosa watches it for strike three.

Matt Vierling takes a ball before swinging and missing. He then makes contact on a low curve and hitsi it right at Peña who flicks it to Altuve for the first, and on to first to turn two. 6-4-3

Top 5 - Phillies 0-3 Astros

Jean Segura leads off and slaps an outside pitch to right field for a single, only the second hit of the night for Philadelphia.

Maldonado rips the first pitch directly at Bohm who leaps for it but makes the catch to end the inning. Wheeler only threw eight pitches in that inning.

Chas McCormick tries to bunt but it goes foul. He then switches tack and slaps a single through to center. Two down and now the Astros have a baserunner.

Aledmys Diaz is only slightly more patient, hitting the second pitch, but with the same result. Sosa fields it for a routine out.

Bottom 4 - Phillies 0-3 Astros

Yuli Gurriel grounds out to Sosa to kick off the bottom of the fourth. The Astros quick-fire hitting is great when it works, but also leads to quite a few hits right at infielders.

Alec Bohm works the count to 2-2 but Valdez gives him a spectacular 97mph fastball, right at the knees for a called strike three. Bohm didn't like it, but the umpire was right. You can't take that pitch when you have two strikes on you. Swing the lumber!

Castellanos swings at the first pitch. Ground ball to Bregman who makes the long throw to get the out at first.

Top 4 - Phillies 0-3 Astros

Harper leads off the fourth for the Phillies and goes down swinging on three straight curve balls.

Kyle Tucker comes up and flies out to center to end the inning. For all the drama, Wheeler actually gets out of the inning, retiring the batters in order. Lots of pitches, but they wen't down 1-2-3

End of three

Wheeler misses with a few, going inside and then outside. Bregman chases a fastball but can't get to it. The count runs full.

The hit and run is on and Bregman hits it right at Segura. Even with Álvarez running, he still gets him. They turn two on an unlikely 6-4-3

Alex Bregman comes up and can't check his swing on the inside pitch.

Yordan fouls the first pitch off before taking three balls. Wheeler misses with the next pitch for ball four. He is trying to keep the ball at the top of the zone for Álvarez but it just didn't work that time.

Bottom 3 - Phillies 0-3 Astros

Wheeler goes to work against Álvarez, who hit a double in his first at-bat.

Realmuto hits a hard ground ball to third. Bregman charges it and throws a bullet on the run for the third out. The Phillies strand one, in the middle of three, the Astros lead 3-0

Rhys Hoskins swings at three curveballs, whiffing all of them. Two away

Kyle Schwarber now comes up and fights off the low balls. He fouls three off before taking a few balls. The Phillies are all seeing at least four pitches off of Valdez, who has already thrown 50 pitches in the third inning.

Schwarber rips one to right field for the first hit of the game for the Phillies. He takes a wide turn but wisely decides to put on the brakes.

After working the count to 2-2, Sosa chases a high fastball, tailing away and just couldn't catch up to it. One down.

Top 3 - Phillies 0-3 Astros

Edmundo Sosa starts off for Philadelphia and takes a curve ball for a strike.

Jeremy Peña lines one directly to Sosa at short for out number three. We go to the third, still 3-0 Astros.

Jose Altuve comes up first pitch swinging, as usual. This time, he chips it straight up where it is caught by Segura for the second out. Typical Altuve, two at-bats, two pitches.

Maldonado chased a terrible curve for strike three. Wheeler has been trying that pitch, trying to get the Astros to chase. So far, nobody has, until now. One away.

Martín Maldonado comes up and takes a strike. The Astros catcher is known for being a terrible hitter so perhaps Wheeler will attack him more aggressively.

The second pitch is fouled off. 0-2

Wheeler delivers three foul balls, before trying the edges and missing. The count goes full and the payoff misses just outside. That is the first walk given up by Zack Wheeler.

Bottom 2 - Phillies 0-3 Astros

Chas McCormick leads off the bottom half of the inning for Houston.

Matt Vierling faces his first-ever World Series pitch and comes out gunning. He pulls it foul, but man did it fly. Upper deck, foul ball home run.

His second pitch is grounded to Altuve, who steps on the bag to end the inning. Middle of two, Astros still up 3-0

Jean Segura comes out swinging and fouls the first two pitches off. In a hole, quickly, before watching a beautiful curve fall in for strike three. Two down now.

Framber misses a few low and in, trying to work that breaking pitch. Bohm works the count full and draws the walk. That is the second base on balls surrendered by Valdez in as many innings.

Alec Bohm stands in now and chops a long ball down the right field line, twisting foul. Great swing, inside out, and he got all over that low ball.

Valdez's curveball is on fire. Straight up, 12 to 6, and the floor falls out of it. Castellanos goes after it and gets nowhere close. Out number one.

Top 2 Phillies 0-3 Astros

Framber Valdez comes back out to work after a short first inning and faces Nick Castellanos.

Aledmys Diaz comes to the plate and is as aggressive as everyone else, but the foul balls don't fall for him. He swings and misses for strike three to end the inning. And what an inning it was! After one, the Astros lead 3-0

In the days of Statcast, you can get some impressive stats dug up. Three doubles in the World Series? This is the first time ever...

Run scores on error

Yuli Gurriel hits one to short stop. The throw from Sosa short-hops Hoskins and he can't come up with it. Gurriel is safe and Álvarez scores from third. So the decision to be aggressive on the bases pays off for Houston.

Kyle Tucker comes up to the plate. Perhaps a bit amazed that he could have two home runs last night and still lose the game. He fouls a few off before flying out to center for the first out.

Álvarez decides to test the arm of Matt Vierling and gets in safe to third. The throw was good and in time, but Bohm couldn't dig it out.

Double Double Double

Seven pitches, the Astros have swung at six of them.

Yordan Álvarez makes this double-fest a hat-trick. Three hitters, three pitches, three doubles. Peña scores from second and the Astros are wasting no time at all.

Astros score first

Jeremy Peña comes out first pitch swinging as well and puts it into left field as well, a hard shot past the third baseman. Altuve scores from second, and the Astros are on the board!

Bottom 1

Zack Wheeler takes the mound for the Phillies and Jose Altuve, notorious for first pitch swinging, goes after it and gets a hard-hit shot to left. Altuve is quick on the bases and stretches it into a double.

Valdez delivers a change up that Harper knocked into left-center, but Aledmys Diaz tracks it down and makes the catch for out number three. One stranded, we go to the bottom of one, scoreless.

Bryce Harper comes to the plate now and quickly gets behind 1-2

JT Realmuto, hero of last night's game, steps up to the plate. He fouls a few off before going down swinging on a nasty curve. The bottom just dropped out of it. Two away.

Valdez loses Hoskins on a seven-pitch at-bat, giving up the fourth ball to put him on first base.

Framber Valdez has an art about him, forcing ground balls in the vast majority of cases. He is far and away the MLB leader in that stat. With numbers that seem higher than his success would indicate, he leans heavily on getting hitters to put the ball in play rather than try and work the strikeout.

Rhys Hoskins is a pull hitter, like many of the power-focused hitters in the modern game.

He grounds one to second base for the first out of the game.

Kyle Schwarber has had a booming bat this season, far too big for a leadoff hitter, to be honest. His power should see him hitting around three, but the Phillies have liked him in the leadoff spot this season, even with his 50 home runs.

First pitch

Framber Valdez takes the mound and delivers a 94mph sinker for a strike to get us underway.

The Edge

So, who has the edge? Well, that is the million-dollar question, isn't it.

On paper, the Astros are still the favorite, perhaps an even heavier favorite for Game 2 than they were for Game 1.

All of the same reasonings for yesterday's game still apply: their history on the big stage, their performance in the post season so far - apart from Game 1 - and most importantly Dusty Baker.

You can add to that list the fact that Rob Thomson had to deplete his bullpen to secure that win in Game 1 and Philadelphia's inability to hit big off of left-handed pitchers. So the smart money says that Houston have the edge.

But the Phillies have not been troubled by being the underdog yet, and they won't start now. They were big underdogs to the Cardinals and Braves, and even arguably against the Padres. They have been giant-killers so far this post season and they will believe that they can pull off another upset in Game 2.

I can't wait! Can you?

Interesting facts, courtesy of MLB.com

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

• The Astros and Phillies have played five consecutive extra-inning games in the postseason (the final four games of the 1980 NLCS between the clubs each went to extras).

• Tucker has eight career postseason homers, tying him with Carlos Beltran and Gurriel for fifth most in Astros history.

• Gurriel has 83 postseason hits, the second most in Astros history behind Altuve (95). He’s collected at least two hits in four of eight playoff games this year.

• Realmuto’s 10th-inning homer was the third extra-inning homer in Phillies history, and the first since Lenny Dykstra’s in Game 5 of the 1993 NLCS.

Lineups for Game 2

Phillies
Kyle Schwarber, LF
Rhys Hoskins, 1B
J.T. Realmuto, C
Bryce Harper, DH
Nick Castellanos, RF
Alec Bohm, 3B
Jean Segura, 2B
Matt Vierling, CF
Edmundo Sosa, SS

Astros
Jose Altuve, 2B
Jeremy Peña, SS
Yordan Alvarez, DH
Alex Bregman, 3B
Kyle Tucker, RF
Yuli Gurriel, 1B
Aledmys Diaz, LF
Chas McCormick, CF
Martín Maldonado, C

On the mound

The big back hand that the Phillies have in store behind the stiff jab is Zack Wheeler. Aaron Nola did a marvellous job in Game 1 of setting up the Astros for the knockout, and Wheeler is going to be tasked with delivering it in Game 2. They will need him to give them a solid six innings of work to see that plan have any chance of coming to fruition, though.

Houston have handed Framber Valdez the reins for Game 2 and while Wheeler definitely has the advantage from the bump, the Astros will be expecting a solid workman-like performance out of him. The Phillies weren’t the only team who ripped through their bullpen, and Dusty Baker will be anxious to protect the arms that he has left, even with the off-day tomorrow.

Starting Pitchers Stats
Phillies
RH Zack Wheeler
2.82 ERA
153.0 IP
163 SO
1.04 WHIP

Astros
LH Framber Valdez
2.82 ERA
201.1 IP
194 SO
1.16 WHIP

What will Houston's reaction be?

For the Astros, Game 1’s result would have had the opposite effect, rubbing some of the shine off of their magical post season performance. They blew a five-run lead in the World Series, in front of a home crowd. That will definitely sting their pride, and they know that when they eventually play in front of a hostile Philadelphia house, they will not be allowed to forget it.

But you also have to be realistic. Houston are some of the best in the game in situations like this. In fact, they have lost every World Series Game 1 that they ever played in, going 0-5 even in the Fall Classic that they wound up winning. So if any team can brush a loss like this off, it is the Astros.

They will know, for example, that the Phillies threw the house at them to get that win. Rightly so, too. But the effort would have taken a lot out of the Philadelphia bullpen, which is not as deep as Houston’s. Grinding out games like this, going into extra innings, even in a close loss, will favor the Astros in the long run.

How will Game 1's win affect the Phillies?

The Phillies are on a high after climbing off the mat to take Game 1. It can not be understated how big that was psychologically, both to Philadelphia and to Houston. To take a road game in the World Series is huge, but to do it in the situation that was presented to them, down by five, with the American League Cy Young favorite on the mound… the Phillies will take pride and a great amount of emotional boost from that. Just knowing that you can do it, that it is possible, is half of the battle in mental preparation.

In the words of my favorite Philly ever, Tug McGraw, “ya gotta believe!”

After the emotional roller coaster that Game 1 brought us, I don’t know if we fans are prepared to go through all of that again. But do it again we must. Ready or not, here comes Game 2.

Good evening and welcome to Diario AS USA’s live commentary stream of Game 2 of the 2022 World Series. We are in for the long haul, bringing you all of the action as it unfolds right here, with a mix of play-by-play and opinion, peppered with random facts, news, and the insight of our MLB staff throughout this series.