PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Phillies tied the record for most home runs hit in a World Series game, belting five in a 7-0 win over the Houston Astros in Game 3 on Tuesday night.
Philadelphia leads the series 2-1, with Game 4 on Wednesday.
All five home runs came off starter Lance McCullers Jr., a record for most homers surrendered by a pitcher in a World Series game.
Bryce Harper (first inning), Alec Bohm (second), Brandon Marsh (second), Kyle Schwarber (fifth) and Rhys Hoskins (fifth) all went deep, making the Phillies the first team in history to hit five home runs in the first five innings of a World Series contest.
“We talked about it before the game, just trying to get on him early, trying to get on him often,” Harper said.
Before Bohm’s second-inning homer, Harper called him over from the on-deck circle to the dugout and offered him a quick word of advice.
Asked if he and Bohm discussed McCullers possibly tipping his pitches, Harper said, “I think that’s just general conversation. Trying to get as much information as we can from each other. We just tried to have the best at-bats we could.”
Bohm smiled when asked when Harper told him.
“That’s between us,” Bohm said in an interview on the Fox broadcast.
Schwarber’s and Hoskins’ homers were back-to-back, with Schwarber’s blast — a 443-foot shot to dead center — traveling the farthest. Philadelphia hit home runs off four types of pitches, including two sliders, a change-up, a curveball and a sinker.
Coming into the game, McCullers had given up just three earned runs in 11 postseason innings this month. He was pulled after the fifth home run, lasting only 4 1/3 innings, giving up all seven runs. He allowed just four home runs in eight regular-season starts this season before giving up five on Tuesday.
The Phillies have 17 homers at home this postseason, third-most in a single postseason all time.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.