HOUSTON - Game 1 of the 2022 World Series was the Astros' 21st World Series game in the past six seasons. They've hit a lot of home runs in that time, but no one had previously gone deep twice in the same game.
Kyle Tucker did so in the first three innings of Game 1 Friday night in a raucous Minute Maid Park.
He started off the scoring with a solo shot in the second. It was actually the first hit of the game.
You come for the King, you best not miss. 👑 pic.twitter.com/RfBUTpJYKB
— Houston Astros (@astros) October 29, 2022
He then came up with two runners on base in the third inning and broke the game wide open.
ALL HAIL THE KING. pic.twitter.com/n6bIvxCbad
— Houston Astros (@astros) October 29, 2022
This was the 56th time in World Series history that a player had a two-homer game. The most recent players to pull it off were Brandon Lowe of the Rays (Game 2 in 2020), Steve Pearce (Game 5 of 2018) and Roberto Pérez (Game 1 of 2016). He became the 30th to have at least two homers and four RBI in a World Series game and the first since Pérez.
Tucker becomes the fourth player in history to homer in his first two plate appearances of a World Series (via ESPN Stats and Info), joining Gene Tenace (1972), Andruw Jones (1996) and Pablo Sandoval (2012).
This was the first time in Astros history a player went deep twice in the Fall Classic.
This was also a rarity for Tucker. It was the seventh postseason home run of his career, but this was his first two-homer game in the playoffs. In regular season play, he has just two career two-home run games. They both came this season, actually, on April 8 and May 17.
Unfortunately for the Astros, Tucker's heroics weren't enough: the Phillies came storming back and hung onto a 6-5 win through 10 to take Game 1.