The China Mail - Phillies oust Braves, Astros sweep Seattle in MLB playoffs

Pena's blast after the most scoreless innings in MLB playoff history gave the Astros a 1-0 victory over the Mariners and a 3-0 sweep of their best-of-five American League division series matchup.

Houston reached the best-of-seven AL Championship Series for a sixth consecutive year and will face either the New York Yankees or Cleveland Indians, who were level 1-1 in their series.

In the National League, Philadelphia defeated Atlanta 8-3 to win their series in four games.

J.T. Realmuto hit an inside-the-park home run while Brandon Marsh smacked a three-run homer and Bryce Harper added a solo homer for the Phillies.

Philadelphia advanced to an NL finals showdown against either the Los Angeles Dodgers or San Diego Padres to decide a World Series berth.

"What an opportunity," Harper said.

"You've got to beat the champs to be the champs. I get chills, man. We've got two more. We've got (to win) eight more games."

The Phillies reached the playoffs for the first time since 2011 and made the NL final for the first time since 2010. They last reached the World Series in 2009 and last won the crown in 2008.

The Braves failed in their bid to become the first MLB repeat champion since the New York Yankees from 1998-2000.

At Seattle, relief pitchers were masterful for hours in the first MLB playoff game to go scoreless into the 16th inning. The total of 42 strikeouts in the contest also was an MLB playoff record.

The Astros stranded 13 base runners and the Mariners left 10 on base through 17 scoreless innings.

In the 18th, Pena blasted a 3-ball, 2-strike fastball pitch off Seattle reliever Penn Murfee over the centerfield wall for the only run of the contest.

At Philadelphia, Realmuto became the first catcher to hit an MLB playoff inside-the-park homer and only the 18th player in all to manage the feat. It was the first such homer in the playoffs since 2017.

Marsh gave the Phillies the lead by hitting a three-run homer in the second inning off Braves pitcher Charlie Morton, making his first playoff start since suffering a broken right leg last October.

Morton, who left the game after a batted ball struck his right elbow in the second inning, was replaced by Collin McHugh, who surrendered Realmuto's inside-the-park homer in the third.

The ball went over Atlanta's Michael Harris and bounced off the centerfield wall, rolling away from Harris.

By the time he retrieved the ball and threw it to the infield, Realmuto was racing home in a 15.4-second circuit of the bases to give Philadelphia a 4-1 lead.

The Braves, who got a solo homer from Orlando Arcia in the third inning, added another from Matt Olson in the fourth to pull within 4-2.

But the Phillies added three insurance runs in the sixth on run-scoring singles by Rhys Hoskins, Realmuto and Harper.

Atlanta climbed within 7-3 on Travis d'Arnaud's solo homer in the seventh but Harper answered with a solo homer for the Phillies in the eighth.

D.Pan--ThChM