PHILADELPHIA — The Astros seem to have another playoff star in rookie shortstop Jeremy Peña.
The 25-year-old sparked their 3-2 win over the Phillies in Game 5 of the World Series on Thursday night at Citizens Bank Park, to take a 3-2 series lead, by driving in their first two runs and setting up the third, as he again made sure Houston didn’t miss the star he replaced, Carlos Correa.
“I never saw it as having to fill his shoes,’’ Peña said of Correa, who left for Minnesota as a free agent after last season and is set to hit the market again.
“I just had to come in and be myself, play my game,’’ Peña said. “But at the end of the season, once we accomplish our goal, which is to go all the way, then I’ll sit down and reflect on the journey. But there’s still work to do and we got to lock in.’’
Jeremy Peña belts a solo home run in the fourth inning of the Astros’ 3-2 Game 52 win over the Phillies.Kyodo News/Sipa USA Peña’s postseason résumé, which was bolstered by his three-run home run off Nestor Cortes in The Bronx that got the Astros back into Game 4 of the ALCS, looks even better now.
He singled in Jose Altuve in the first inning off Noah Syndergaard and then ended Syndergaard’s night with a leadoff, go-ahead homer in the fourth.
It was Peña’s fourth home run of the postseason and he’s got at least one hit in 11 of his 12 playoff games.
“He’s played remarkably well,’’ Houston manager Dusty Baker said. “He’s really carried us for a while here through this postseason, and that’s especially tough for a young player.”
Yuli Gurriel left Thursday’s game with right knee discomfort after injuring the knee on a rundown in the seventh. He was slow to get up after Rhys Hoskins ran into him while applying the tag. Gurriel stayed in the game at first base for the bottom of the seventh, but was replaced by pinch-hitter Trey Mancini in the eighth.
Mancini then made a potential game-saving play by smothering Kyle Schwarber’s hard grounder down the line with runners on the corners and Houston up by a run to end the eighth inning.
Baker said Gurriel was day-to-day.
The Phillies will turn to another ex-Met, Zack Wheeler, in Game 6, as Wheeler was pushed back due to arm fatigue and a drop in velocity.
J.T. Realmuto said he thought the extra day would serve Wheeler well.
“I think the numbers kind of speak for themselves with how well he’s pitched, not just this season, but his entire career with that extra day,’’ Realmuto said.
Realmuto is right, to a point. The added day due to Friday’s travel day will give Wheeler six days of rest. In five starts in those situations this season, he has a 1.67 ERA and 0.630 WHIP in 27 innings.
As for the loss of velocity, Realmuto said, “Zack’s a competitor. Even in his starts this season, when his velo hasn’t necessarily been as high as it always is, he always competes for us. He’s got the stuff to get the job done. Whether his velo is at 98 or not, he’s got, as long as he’s got his command and then he’s able to attack the strike zone and work ahead of hitters, I’m not too worried about the velo.”
Phillies manager Rob Thomson said Thursday he would wait to see how the next two games go before determining a Game 7 starter, since left-hander Ranger Suarez — who has pitched better than any other Phillies starter in this series — could be available out of the bullpen.
Jose Altuve hasn’t hit much this postseason, going hitless over the first five games of the playoffs before getting eight hits over his last six games, but the second baseman has no intention of altering his aggressive approach at the plate in the middle of the World Series.
“I think all my career, since I remember playing the minor leagues or Little League, I was just that type of player that likes to swing the bat,’’ Altuve said before getting two hits in Game 5.
“I don’t think there’s any reason why I should change right now. So I just like the way I go up there and try to swing at good pitches sometimes.”
But the results haven’t followed for a while.
Through the three-game ALDS against the Mariners and the first two games of Houston’s ALCS sweep over the Yankees, Altuve went 0-for-23 with two walks and eight strikeouts.
He finally got a hit in Game 3 of the ALCS in The Bronx — a double — and followed that up with six hits in Houston’s next three games, but he still has just two extra-base hits and an OPS of .408 this postseason.
A day after Phillies right-hander Jose Alvarado gave up two hits — and two runs — while allowing all three inherited runners left by Aaron Nola in Wednesday’s loss, Alvarado rode around the field at Citizens Bank Park on a bicycle as the Phillies took early batting practice.
It amused his teammates a day after they were no-hit by the Astros, but Thomson didn’t think it was such a great idea.
“I saw that,’’ Thomson said of Alvarado’s laps around the field. “Not sure if I want one of our key relievers riding a bike around the ballpark, but nonetheless, it shows that they’re loose.’’
Speaking of the no-hitter, just the second in World Series history, Phillies hitting coach Kevin Long said it had no impact on the lineup’s preparation for Game 5.
“You move on,’’ Long said. “It doesn’t matter if we won or lost 10-9, or got shut out on seven hits. It’s history. I kind of like it. We can be World Series champs after being no-hit. Why not? It would just go to show how unimportant it is.”
Houston’s Cristian Javier, who pitched the first six innings of the no-hitter, has been more dominant than any pitcher in the postseason and Baker said he wasn’t sure when, or if, the right-hander would be available again this series.
“I don’t know,’’ Baker said. “It wouldn’t be [Thursday]. It wouldn’t be [Friday]. It wouldn’t be the next day. So probably Game 7 [on Sunday].”
