HOUSTON — The anticipation started in the bottom of the sixth inning Saturday night and built with each of the nine outs remaining.
It was only a matter of time: These Astros were going to win the World Series.
Mission accomplished, Houston.
Minute Maid Park became the scene of an orange alert with the Astros’ 4-1 victory over the Phillies in Game 6 of the World Series. Houston celebrated a second world championship in six seasons, leaving the Phillies to contemplate an unexpected run (at least it was unexpected by fans) through the postseason that ended two victories short of the ultimate prize.
“We were definitely motivated by not getting the job done last year,” said Alex Bregman, whose Astros lost the World Series to the Braves in six games last year. “We all have a standard when we show up in spring training to win a championship. We fell short of that goal last year, but this team right here came through and got the job done.”
The World Series title was Dusty Baker’s first in his celebrated managerial career, removing the 73-year-old from the list of best managers andhead coaches to have never won a title.
“It’s not relief,” said Baker, who won the World Series as a player with the 1981 Dodgers. “It’s just sheer joy and thankfulness. It’s not relief at all. I mean, because everybody was talking about it more than I was even thinking about it. So I always said before that if I win one, you know, I’ll win two, but you have got to win one first. I mean, the one was hell to get to this point. But it was well worth it. I’m in a great city, with great people, great fans, and I have got a great ball club.”
Jeremy Peña was named World Series MVP after going 10-for-25 (.400) with a home run in the series. Peña became the third rookie to receive the honor, joining pitchers Livan Hernandez of the 1997 Marlins and Larry Sherry of the 1959 Dodgers. Peña was also MVP of the ALCS against the Yankees.
With a sellout crowd of 42,958 chanting “We want Houston” at various points — a shot at Yankees fans who had chanted the same before the ALCS — the Astros closed the series with a third straight victory.
In the end, the Astros’ pitching was too much for the Phillies, who were held to three runs over the final three games after erupting for five homers in winning Game 3 to take a 2-1 series lead.
Game 6 tilted in the Astros’ direction in the sixth inning, when Yordan Alvarez hit a monstrous three-run homer to give Houston a 3-1 lead. Phillies manager Rob Thomson had removed Zack Wheeler and summoned left-hander Jose Alvarado to face the lefty-hitting Alvarez, who crushed a 99-mph fastball over the hedges in center field.
“I thought Wheels still had really good stuff,” Thomson said. “It wasn’t about that. It was just that I thought the matchup was better with Alvarado on Alvarez at that time.”
The rally started when Martin Maldonado was drilled by a pitch before Peña delivered a single with one out. Alvarez, who blasted 37 homers in the regular season, hadn’t hit one in the World Series until his bomb against Alvarado.
Bregman followed with a walk and reached second on a wild pitch before Christian Vazquez’s RBI single extended the Astros’ lead to 4-1.
Wheeler lasted 5 ¹/₃ innings and allowed two earned runs on three hits with one walk and one hit batsman. The right-hander was removed after 70 pitches.
Kyle Schwarber homered leading off the sixth to break the scoreless deadlock. The blast was Schwarber’s sixth this postseason, tying him for the Phillies’ lead with Bryce Harper. Framber Valdez left a 2-2 fastball over the plate that Schwarber crushed into the right-field seats.
Valdez was removed after the sixth inning. The left-hander, in a second dominant start in this series, allowed only two hits and struck out nine with two walks.
Thomson, who became the Phillies’ manager upon Joe Girardi’s firing in June with the team struggling, said his team — which rallied to reach the postseason as the NL’s No. 6 seed — should be proud of its season.
“It’s still disappointing, though,” Thomson said. “And I told them after the game, ‘You guys have nothing to be ashamed of. You don’t need to hang your head for anybody, because you came to the ballpark every day and worked hard and played hard and played as a team, had a lot of fun.’ They grinded through a lot of obstacles. I’m just so proud of all of them.”
