The Astros Attacked The Phillies With 1 Pitch In Game 5

The World Series is heading back to Minute Maid Park after the Houston Astros battled to win a tight Game 5 against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.

Clutch hits from Jeremy Pena, solid pitching from Justin Verlander, and yeomen work for four Astros relievers carried the team to a 3-2 win.

But one pitch in particular seemed to spell certain doom for the Phillies in Game 5.

The Astros attacked them relentlessly with sliders.

In fact, over the course of Game 5, Houston threw a total of 57 sliders to the Phillies, and it appeared to work out just fine as the Astros managed to strike out 12 Philadelphia batters.

The Astros threw 57 sliders to the Phillies last night. 😮 pic.twitter.com/LB8qBkIvEv

— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) November 4, 2022

Houston’s Slider Usage

The Phillies certainly had their chances in Game 5, but did not capitalize.

Houston’s pitching was simply too much for them.

But the slider usage is quite astounding.

Even more astounding is the fact that the Phillies didn’t seem to be able to make any adjustments over the course of the game as the Astros continued to pound them with sliders.

Clearly, it worked out for the Astros, and clearly it was too much for the Phils.

The number of sliders thrown just shows how much the Phillies were struggling with it, as well as how comfortable the Astros felt attacking them with it.

The series now shifts back to Houston for Game 6 on Saturday night.

The Astros will be handing the ball to left-hander Framber Valdez, while the Phillies counter with their ace, right-hander Zack Wheeler in hopes of staving off elimination and forcing a Game 7.