Houston, Texas - Kyle Tucker said he wanted to get this World Series over with quickly, and darned if the Houston Astros right fielder didn’t try his hardest to make it so.

But like just about everyone in baseball, he underestimated the Philadelphia Phillies.

Faced with their largest deficit in the postseason – a five-run hill built on two Tucker home runs through three innings Friday night – the Phillies rallied to win a Game 1 for the ages.

They knocked out future MLB Hall of Famer Justin Verlander in the fifth inning. Manager Rob Thomson managed like it was Game 7. And J.T. Realmuto hit a go-ahead solo homer in the 10th inning of a 6-5 victory that will rank among the unlikeliest in the Phillies’ 140-year history.

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How unlikely? Teams that have a lead of at least five runs were 589-18 in postseason history entering the night. The Phillies were 0-11 in the playoffs when trailing by five runs or more.

And consider the degree of difficulty. The Astros, a 106-win team in the regular season, hadn’t lost yet in the playoffs, going 7-0 en route to dispatching the Seattle Mariners in the divisional round and the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series.

Verlander, who will almost certainly win his third Cy Young Award this season, didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning and looked like he may never give one up.

Somehow, though, nothing that happened next was the least bit surprising. Not the two-out rally in the fourth inning that featured a two-strike RBI single by Nick Castellanos and a two-run double by Alec Bohm. Not Realmuto’s game-tying two-run double in the fifth. Not Thomson’s move to bring in lefty Jose Alvarado in the fifth inning or to use Game 3 starter Ranger Suarez in the seventh. Not even Castellanos’ sliding catch in right field to save a run in the ninth and send the game to extra innings.

The Phillies have been doing this all month, rampaging through the playoffs with big play after big play, unexpected victory after unexpected victory.

Why stop now just because it’s the World Series?

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On the eve of playing on baseball’s biggest stage for the first time in his career, Realmuto promised himself that he would pause whatever he was doing on the field before Game 1, look around, and savor the sights and sounds. The occasion called for a few moments of reflection.

For everyone. Twelve years, 11 months, and 24 days had passed since owner John Middleton knelt beside Ryan Howard in a funereal visiting clubhouse at Yankee Stadium and said, "I want my (bleeping) trophy back," the Phillies were on the national stage again, lined up between home plate and third base with a World Series logo painted on the grass in front of them.

For a few innings, it looked like maybe the moment was too big for them.

Aaron Nola left a changeup over the plate for Tucker to launch to right field in the second inning. In the third, he gave up a leadoff double to Jeremy Pena, a one-out walk to Alex Bregman, and a three-run homer to Tucker on a sinker that leaked back over the plate.

Verlander, meanwhile, was slicing up the Phillies, setting down the first 10 batters. Dating to October 4, when he no-hit them for five innings on the night after they clinched a playoff spot, he faced 26 Phillies batters without allowing a hit.

But everything changed the second time through the order. Rhys Hoskins lined a one-out single in the fourth inning for the Phillies’ first hit. Then Bryce Harper, Nick Castellanos, and Alec Bohm followed with two-out hits. Castellanos lined a two-strike single to left field to drive in Hoskins before Bohm’s two-run double to left cut the deficit to 5-3.

After Verlander got through three innings in 36 pitches, the Phillies made him throw 31 pitches in the fourth, 10 of which came on a two-out walk to rookie shortstop Bryson Stott. Ten up, 10 down was followed by eight of next 13 batters reaching base (six hits, two walks).

With that, the Phillies eroded some of Verlander’s invincibility – and maybe the Astros’, too.

It took four innings, but the Phillies had arrived in the World Series again.

Did Tucker, or anybody else, really think they were going to go quickly? Or quietly?