PHILADELPHIA (AP) 鈥 Lance McCullers Jr. didn鈥檛 have to look 鈥 he had seen enough already.
Rhys Hoskins had just lined a slider into the left-field seats for the 鈥 five! 鈥 to punctuate one of the most calamitous starts in World Series history Tuesday night.
Only after hesitating did the 29-year-old Houston Astros right-hander turn for a peek. He really didn't have to.
Bryce Harper, Alec Bohm, Brandon Marsh and Kyle Schwarber also went deep, 1,950 feet of long balls as the Phillies won 7-0 to take a 2-1 Series lead.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 really get hit around like that, so I was a little bit in disbelief,鈥 McCullers said.
Five years after winning Game 3 of the Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, McCullers had a Charlie Brown-type outing, the first pitcher to allow five homers in any postseason game.
Was he tipping his pitches?
鈥淕uys are always looking for something, always looking to see if they鈥檙e tipping their pitches,鈥 Astros manager Dusty Baker said. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 see anything.鈥
Speculation started soon after Harper hit a go-ahead, two-run drive in the first, . McCullers did a 360 and hopped off the mound, not even waiting for the ball to land.
Harper said something to Nick Castellanos and pointed a finger at his teammate's chest after crossing the plate.
鈥淲e could all see he was kind of iffy from the start,鈥 Castellanos said.
Harper then yelled 鈥淏ohmer!鈥 before a quick chat with Bohm, who was on deck.
鈥淎nytime you have information, you want to be able to give that to your teammates at any point,鈥 Harper said. 鈥淭hroughout the whole season we鈥檝e done that.鈥
Bohm led off the second with the 1,000th homer in Series history,
Thirteen pitches later, and just over the right-center wall, where the ball dropped out of the glove of 10-year-old Ty Kuhner of Wilmington, Delaware, and bounced back onto the field. The home run call was upheld after a video review.
Schwarber led off the fifth with the most majestic of the homers, launching a hanging changeup 443 feet off the shrubbery behind the center-field fence. McCullers crouched, then turned and watched with a pained look as the ball landed.
Pitching coach Bill Murphy visited the mound. Five pitches later, . McCullers was pulled with a seven-run deficit.
鈥淚 just thought we had a great approach," Harper said. "We talked about it before the game, just trying to get on him early, trying to get on him often. He鈥檚 really good. He鈥檚 a really good postseason pitcher as well, and that鈥檚 a really good team over there, so we had to jump on them early. We鈥檝e got to keep it going for the next two days and do our job and hopefully end it here at home.鈥
McCullers missed all of 2019 following Tommy John surgery and didn't make his season debut this year until mid-August because of a strained right flexor tendon.
He had never before allowed more than three homers in a game. Now he had broken the record of homers allowed in a Series game: The Chicago Cubs' Charlie Root gave up two each to the Yankees' Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in 1932's Game 3; Cincinnati's Gene Thompson allowed four against the Yankees (including one by Joe DiMaggio) in 1939's Game 3; and St. Louis' Dick Hughes yielded four against Boston in 1967's Game 6.
鈥淣othing else I can do now than prepare for a Game 7," McCullers said. 鈥淚 still believe if we get to that point I'm the best guy to take the ball, and I've just got to pitch better.鈥
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