MLB fans on Lance McCullers: "Phillies sign stealing, I heard loud fireworks after each pitch up to home runs"

For the first time since Game 7 of the 2017 World Series, Lance McCullers made a World Series start. Needless to say, he will have a long time to reflect on his nightmarish outing in Philadelphia.

McCullers was lit up by the Philadelphia Phillies and in the process, became the first ever pitcher in MLB history to surrender five home runs in a World Series game. The longest-tenured Houston Astros pitcher looked dazed and confused as he put his team on a 7-0 hole that ultimately became the final scoreline.

The MLB Twitter-verse is familiar with Lance McCullers as he's served a long time as an Astros pitcher. However, they couldn't help but be amazed, bemused, and baffled at the same time. The starter's infamous record will go down in MLB history, especially if the Phillies win it all this season.

McCullers was rocked in the very first inning after a towering two-run home run from NLCS MVP Bryce Harper. In the very next inning, he gave up a home run to Alec Bohm with the first pitch he threw and then conceded another to Brandon Marsh before the inning ended.

After what seemed like a peaceful third and fourth innings, McCullers was once again rocked in the fifth. This time, it was courtesy of a Kyle Schwarber two-run blast and Rhys Hoskins' solo home run, giving Philadelphia a 7-0 advantage.

This prompted manager Dusty Baker to replace McCullers with reliever Ryne Stanek. Some MLB fans couldn't help but wonder why Baker left McCullers on for that long after putting the team in a heavily disadvantaged position.

The Astros lost Game 3 to the Phillies 7-0, with the latter now leading the World Series 2-1.

Lance McCullers tipping pitches?

Several fans watching at home took to Twitter after careful observation, with Bryce Harper apparently having a word with Bohm before the latter hit a solo blast.

It remains a question of what has gotten into Lance McCullers as he has a respectable 2.77 ERA across 11 postseason starts to his career. It could perhaps be him getting dazed by the Philadelphia crowd's noise that got him disoriented and subsequently had him tipping pitches.

Whichever it may be, the 2017 World Series champions now have a tougher mountain to climb after succumbing to the Phillies in Game 3.

About the author

Daniel Santiago is a journalist who has been reporting on baseball at Sportskeeda since 2022. He was drawn towards the sport after the underlying statistics and the analysis surrounding it grabbed his attention.

Daniel particularly enjoys furnishing reports about historic events in baseball and analyzing the game through a statistic-based outlook, based on Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference. This is in line with how he enjoyed watching baseball as a pastime. As a writer, he is very particular about cross-checking from reputable sources and doing his due diligence.

He became a lifelong Hideki Matsui fan after his exploits in the 2009 World Series for the New York Yankees. Among the current generation, Daniel's favorites include Shohei Ohtani and Jung Hoo Lee. Daniel is a huge follower of Asian baseball and both Ohtani and Lee have been in the top echelon of their respective leagues during their time with the NPB and KBO.

His favorite moment as a baseball fan was the final at-bat of the 2023 World Baseball Classic between Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout. He believes there aren't many words to fittingly describe the intensity of the moment.

As an avid sports fan, Daniel watches other sports and Esports when not writing about baseball.

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