PHILADELPHIA – The Phillies brought back a crop of this city’s sports champions that included Mike Schmidt, Julius Erving, Bernie Parent and Brandon Graham on Tuesday to celebrate the first World Series game at Citizens Bank Park since 2009.

Although it got loud quickly, this was only a warm up for what came next.

The Phillies crushed five home runs against the Astros to win Game 3 of the World Series. The Phillies lead the series 2-1 and are just two victories away from winning their first World Series since 1994.

Bryce Harper (Alec Bohm), Brandon Marsh, Kyle Schwarber, and Rhys Hoskins all scored on a night Astros left-hander Lance McCullers Jr. could as well have walked up to the plate with his pitches on a pitching tee. McCullers became World Series’ first pitcher to allow five homers per game.

The crowd of 45 712 booed and applauded their hometown heroes who managed to split the Houston games in Houston. J.T. managed to get one home run in the first game. Realmuto, in the 10th innings, provided the winning margin in Game 1.

This was fast. The Astros were struck by a bus and never got back.

Ranger Suarez, a left-hander, was impressive with five shutout innings. The Phillies bullpen took care of the rest. In Game 4, Aaron Nola will be taking the pitch against Cristian Javier. Game 5 will see Noah Syndergaard facing Justin Verlander.

Suarez’s performance as a Phillies starter was the best in series history. He allowed three hits, one walk and four strikeouts to lower his ERA to 1.23. After Nola and Zack Wheeler had been flat in their respective starts for Games 1 and 2, this performance came as a result.

The Astros entered this series 7-0 in the postseason, but may have met their match in a Phillies team riding the momentum of reaching the playoffs as the National League’s No. The 6th seed, beating the Padres, Braves, and Cardinals to reach the World Series.

Harper hit a two-run homer on the first inning of this game to kick off the celebrations. Schwarber was outfield walking in the beginning of the game against McCullers. Harper struck the first pitch into the right-field seats with two outs. The blast was Harper’s sixth this postseason.

Bohm, who was approached in the on-deck circle by Harper before leading off the second, hit a line drive into the left-field seats on the first pitch to extend the Phillies’ lead to 3-0. McCullers struckout the next two batters, before Marsh crossed the right-field fence. It was the first World Series game that a team has hit three homers in two innings.

McCullers’ demise was complete in the fifth on consecutive homers by Schwarber and Hoskins that buried the Astros in a 7-0 hole. Schwarber hit a rocket over the center-field fence for two runs and Hoskins hit a slider into the left-field seats that ended McCullers’ night.

The right-hander was unable to last 4 1/3 innings. He allowed seven earned runs on six hits, five strikeouts, and one walk. McCullers had only allowed one homer to a righty this season, but he gave up three on Tuesday.