The Phillies find themselves on the brink, just not the brink they were so hopeful of reaching after hitting five home runs two nights ago.

After their bullpen handed them an opportunity to win Game 5 and be within one win of a championship as the series shifts back to Houston this weekend with a gutsy performance, the Phillies lineup once again came up small.

It did better than being no-hit, like in Game 4, but was only able to muster two runs – a leadoff homer by Kyle Schwarber and clutch single by Jean Segura. Aside from that, they left 12 runners on base, going 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

The end result, was a disappointing 3-2 loss to Houston, and they now trail the best-of-seven series 3-2 and will need to beat the Astros twice at Minute Maid Park to pull off the miracle comeback and take home the franchise’s third crown.

We’ll have more on this tomorrow, but for now, here were the key figures in this pivotal Game 5 loss:

Thor

Noah Syndergaard gave the Phillies everything they could have wanted through three innings. He allowed just one run on two hits and struck out four. The two hits he allowed were the first two hitters of the game – a double to Jose Altuve and a single to Pena with the infield drawn in, which some would argue is ludicrous on the second batter of the game, but coming off a game when you were no hit, can you blame Rob Thomson for trying to prevent even one run?

Syndergaard was feeling it after that, retiring nine consecutive Astros.

The Phillies had Connor Brogdon ready to go to start the fourth, but Thomson wanted to give Syndergaard one more batter, so Brogdon could face both lefties in Houston’s lineup, something they really liked, matchup-wise. Problem was Syndergaard couldn’t put Pena away, and with two strikes, made a bad choice.

On the whole, it was a decent outing for Syndergaard. It just went one batter too far.

Schwarbomb

It took all of two pitches for Kyle Schwarber to temporarily erase the memory of last night:

Regardless of how this weekend plays out, Schwarber has proven to be the straw the stirs the drink for this franchise. Bryce Harper is clearly their best player, but Schwarber makes everything go. He’s the go-to guy in the clubhouse and he is a leader that the team likes to follow.

Schwarber had a chance to put the Phillies ahead in the bottom of the eighth, but was robbed by Astros first baseman Trey Mancini:

Connor Brogdon

The way he’s being used in the playoffs doesn’t draw much attention, as he is being used early in games, but he’s gotten some big outs, and he was sensational in Game 5.

He pitched two innings, and although he did allow a double to Alex Bregman, he got the other six Houston batters he faced, five of them by strikeout, which is impressive, because they don’t strike out much at all:

https://twitter.com/BrodesMedia/status/1588346241699975169

Jean Jean the Hitting Machine

It’s been an eventful postseason for Segura, that’s for sure. And in the World Series, he’s been mostly invisible.

Then…

The one thing you can always say for that guy, he loves the spotlight when the chips are down.

Rhys Hoskins

Usually, negative comments about Hoskins are reserved for his poor play in the field at what is arguably the easiest position to play in baseball. But not in Game 5. Nope, in this one he was brutal at the plate. He struck out three times, the big one with the bases loaded and Houston starter Justin Verlander on the ropes:

https://twitter.com/BrodesMedia/status/1588332929691811841

The story of the game, as mentioned above, was missed opportunities. And this was Rhys’ big one missed. But it wasn’t just that with him. He went down looking each of the next two plate appearances as well, and finished it off swinging for the golden sombrero. Just not a good night for him.

As for the defense, there wasn’t anything startling, in fact he made a nice play on a rundown to tag Yuli Gurriel on the ol’ 5-2-6-3 tag play on the third base line to escape trouble in the seventh, but in the eighth, if he cleanly fielded a grounder while playing in with runners on the corners, he may have had a shot at getting Altuve at the plate. It wasn’t an easy play, and he didn’t come up with it clean, and had no choice but to just take the out at first, which guaranteed the insurance run for Houston.

J.T. Realmuto

He was the hero in Game 1 with the homer in extra innings. Since then, he’s been as bad as a player can possibly be at the plate. Well… almost as bad. I guess technically, this could be uglier, but it’s hard to imagine a time when it has been, especially in the World Series.

Since the homer, Realmuto is 1-for-17 with 11 strikeouts. ELEVEN! You have to make contact by accident in there somewhere, don’t you? Woof.

He didn’t strand anyone, but he contributed zip offensively. Can’t have that consistently from 3/5 of the top of your order.

Although in his last at bat (which occurred after all the above was written), he almost had an extra base hit in the ninth that would have put the tying run on with one out with Harper coming up, but was robbed by an incredible catch by West Chester native Chas McCormick:

Seranthony Dominguez

It had been awhile since Dominguez pitched, and it kind of showed. He battled to get through the seventh, and was aided by the nicely executed rundown, but in the eighth he walked Altuve and gave up a single to Pena before being lifted without registering a strikeout.

Maybe it would have been worth it to get him an inning in Game 4 just to shake off that rust.