MLB playoffs: Phillies win opener against D-Backs as Rangers beat Astros

Bryce Harper hit the first pitch he saw on his 31st birthday into the seats, Kyle Schwarber hit his first homer of the postseason and Nick Castellanos also went deep again to propel the Philadelphia Phillies past the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-3 in Game 1 of NL Championship Series on Monday evening.

Harper held up three fingers of his left hand and one of his right hand and pretended to blow them out like candles on a cake as he walked around the board. Harper, who also walked, scored twice and drove in two runs, hitting his 10th home run in two postseasons with the Phillies.

Zack Wheeler struck out eight in six innings to help the defending National League champions win their seventh Game 1 of the past two postseasons. Wheeler sawed two bats in half during the first two innings, leaving the Diamondbacks with more pieces of broken wood than hits through five.

José Alvarado got four big outs on 15 pitches and Craig Kimbrel scored a scoreless ninth for the save.

Arizona was stuck with their first loss of the postseason after five straight wins against the Brewers and Dodgers.

The Diamondbacks were the latest team to fall apart under the red rush of 45,396 towel-waving, wildly cheering fans at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies never gave fans a reason to stop — or a chance for Arizona to catch their breath until it was too late.

Schwarber started the home run derby when he launched Zac Gallen’s first pitch 450 feet into the right field seats. There was some minor consternation that Schwarber — with 47 home runs this season and 93 in the last two — had yet to go six playoff games deep. How easy it was to forget that Schwarber didn’t have a single hit in the Wild Card Series or NLDS last season before launching six in the NLCS and World Series.

Four pitches later, Harper homered – the first time in 127 postseason games that Philadelphia went deep twice in the first inning.

When Castellanos hit his fifth home run of the playoffs – all in the past three games – it gave the Phillies 32 home runs in 13 postseason games at Citizens Bank Park over the past two years.

Texas Rangers 5-4 Houston Astros

Jonah Heim homered, Nathan Eovaldi pitched six effective innings and Texas defeated Framber Valdez and the Houston Astros 5-4 for a 2-0 lead in the AL Championship Series.

The Rangers improved to 7-0 in the playoffs, including six road wins. They swept the Rays in the Wild Card Series and the Orioles in the Division Series, then advanced a 2-0 win over Houston in the ALCS opener.

“To us, it’s just baseball,” Texas third baseman Josh Jung said. “We jump on teams early, and that helps us get settled. Our pitching was excellent. You can’t ask for anything more than what they gave us.”

Adolis García, Mitch Garver and Nathaniel Lowe each had an RBI single during Texas’ four-run first inning against Valdez, and José Leclerc closed out the game for the Rangers after Yordan Alvarez powered an Astros rally.

Eovaldi struck out nine batters, including two in a row, after Houston loaded the bases in the fifth. He was charged with three runs and five hits in his third win this postseason.

“You’re talking about one of the elite pitchers in the game,” Texas manager Bruce Bochy said. “They have the ability to step up when necessary. We made a mistake, the bases loaded, and it’s all about picking each other up, and he picked us up there and made great throws.”

Game 3 of the best-of-seven series is Wednesday night in Arlington.