The Philadelphia Phillies are one game away from returning to the World Series for a second consecutive year, after tonight’s 6-1 win against the Arizona Diamondbacks to bring the series to 3-2. The series shifts back to Philly as tomorrow is a travel day and game 6 takes place on Monday.

In tonight’s game the Phillies took an early two run lead in the first with three singles by Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper and Bryson Stott respectively. Stott’s single would score Schwarber with 2 outs. Then the Phillies executed a double steal with Stott on first and Harper on third where Stott stopped about two-thirds of the way to second and Harper took off for home. Diamondbacks’ second baseman Ketel Marte threw home but it took catcher Gabriel Moreno to his left just enough where Harper was on his way causing a collision. Harper scored for the second run, Stott advanced to third base and luckily Moreno would be able to get up and stay in the game. Harper marks the first Phillies to steal home in the postseason.

The next two runs for the Phillies would come in the 6th inning with two solo home runs by Schwarber and Harper. Both have been red hot this series, Schwarber hit his fifth home run this series and his eleventh career home run in the NLCS which is now the most in NLCS history. Harper’s home run ties Jayson Werth for the most postseason home runs in the playoffs by a Phillies player with 11. Even crazier is how quickly he did it, as it took Werth 40 games to get to 11 home runs, while it took Harper only 28 games.

In the eighth inning, Harper would once again find his way on base on a fielding error by Ketel Marte. This error would hurt the Diamondbacks as they would get the next two outs, before JT Realmuto would hit a two-run shot to left field to extend the lead. 

On the pitching side for the Phillies, Zack Wheeler would continue his dominance going 7 innings, giving up 6 hits, 1 solo home run to Alek Thomas in the 7th inning, 1 walk and 8 strikeouts. Jeff Hoffman would pitch the eighth inning giving up a single to Marte before getting the next three Diamondbacks’ batters. In the ninth inning, Seranthony Dominguez would pitch. He would get Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to lineout to left field on the first pitch then get Alek Thomas to strike out on five pitches. Dominguez would unravel a bit by walking Evan Longoria on five pitches then allowing an infield single to Geraldo Perdomo moving Longoria to third base. Phillies Manager Rob Thomson had seen enough of Dominguez and brought in Matt Strahm with the dangerous Corbin Carroll coming up to bat. Thomson’s plan worked as Strahm would strike out Carroll on six pitches to end the game. 

Monday’s game is slated to start at 5:07 PM ET and will feature the second rematch between starters Merrill Kelly and Aaron Nola. Back in game 2, Nola would go 6 innings shutting out the Diamondbacks, giving up only 3 hits, striking out 7 and all on 82 pitches. Kelly on the other hand fell victim to the Phillies home run streak as Trea Turner hit a solo home run and Kyle Schwarber hit two solo home runs.