PHILADELPHIA —

Yordan Alvarez and Alex Bregman delivered big hits and the Houston Astros advanced to the World Series again, finishing a four-game sweep of New York in the AL Championship Series with a 6-5 victory Sunday night aided by another defensive gaffe from the Yankees.

Taking advantage of a costly error by second baseman Gleyber Torres to produce the go-ahead rally in the seventh inning, the Astros won their second consecutive pennant and fourth in six years.

Rookie shortstop Jeremy Peña hit a three-run homer off ailing Yankees starter Nestor Cortes to help the AL West champions overcome an early 3-0 deficit. Peña was picked as the ALCS MVP.

Houston will open the World Series at home Friday night against Bryce Harper and the wild-card Philadelphia Phillies, who beat San Diego earlier in the day to close out the best-of-seven NLCS in five games.

Harper broke up the Phillies postseason party on the mound and directed his team to where the true revelry was about to begin for the National League champs.

“C'mon, let's go inside! Let's go!” he ordered.

With that, Harper walked toward the dugout and raised his arms in jubilation to the soundtrack of Phillies fans screaming “MV3! MV3! " The Phillies scrambled inside for the Broad Street Bubbly that awaited in the clubhouse.

Harper made the scene possible because he rose to the moment Philly demanded of him from the time he signed the richest free-agent deal in baseball history. Harper has made the monumental feat of hitting a baseball look so easy in the postseason and with the NL pennant at stake, he delivered with the defining moment of his four-year Philadelphia career.

Harper slugged his fifth homer of the postseason, a two-run blast in the eighth inning that turned Citizens Bank Park into a madhouse, and the $330 million slugger powered the Phillies past the San Diego Padres 4-3 on Sunday and into the World Series for the first the time since 2009.

One swing. One opposite-field shot. One game-winning home run that about seemed destined from the moment he came to the plate in the eighth inning with the Phillies and their fans beckoning Bryce to deliver in the clutch just one more time.

“I hit the ball, and I just looked at my dugout and kind of it’s for all of them,” Harper said. “It’s for this whole team. It’s for this whole organization."

Rhys Hoskins also hit a two-run homer in Game 5 of the NL Championship Series to spark Philadelphia’s improbable run to the pennant and a shot at its first World Series championship since 2008.

Harper, Hoskins & Crew are coming for a most improbable World Series championship.

Houston held a 3-0 lead over the New York Yankees in the ALCS. Game 4 is Sunday night in New York. The World Series will begin Friday night at the home of the AL champion.

Harper was named NLCS MVP and he as parked the trophy on a dais, he made it clear the personal awards meant nothing to him without a ring.

“I don't really care about this but MLB is making me do it,” Harper said.

Philadelphia trailed 3-2 when J.T. Realmuto began the eighth with a single off reliever Robert Suarez. Harper then lined a 2-2, 98 mph sinker the opposite way, into the left-field seats as another sellout crowd of 45,485 shook the stadium.

Harper hoped the homer set the stage for other highlights on deck in the next couple of weeks.

“We’ve got four more,” the two-time NL MVP told the fans during an on-field celebration, and they roared again.

The lefty-swinging Harper connected off a righty — the Padres had left-handed closer Josh Hader warming in the bullpen, but didn't bring him in.

“It’s a thought at this point, but that wasn’t what we were thinking,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said. “We were trying to get to four-out position for Hader, and we had a lot of confidence in Suarez.”

The Phillies felt the same way about Harper.

“Pure chaos, right? I don’t think anybody was surprised,” Hoskins said. “This guy has a knack for coming up in the biggest moments. It’s just what he’s done his whole career, and we’ve seen it plenty of times.”

Remember, too: When Harper's thumb was broken by a pitch from San Diego's Blake Snell in late June, there were some concerns that he might not return this season.

Instead, the star who signed a 13-year contract to play in Philadelphia delivered — in this season, in this game.

Even after Harper's homer put them ahead, it wasn't an easy ending for the Phillies.

Reliever David Robertson was pulled after a pair of one-out walks in the ninth. Ranger Suárez made his first relief appearance of the season and retired Trent Grisham on a bunt and got Austin Nola — brother of Phils ace Aaron Nola — on a routine fly to finish it for a huge save.

The Phillie Phanatic swayed a National League champions flag as the postseason banger “Dancing On My Own” blared throughout the stadium. Alec Bohm and Nick Castellanos stripped off their shirts and danced in the clubhouse. Cigars were let. Cheap beer was sprayed. The alcohol puddles on the carpet went deeper than the ones caused by the rain in a sloppy, gusty Game 5.

Philly, get ready.

This sixth-seeded Phillies — yes, that is a thing this season — feel they're just getting started.

Harper, who turned 30 last week, is batting 439 (18 for 41) with six doubles, five homers, 11 RBIs and 10 runs scored over 11 postseason games. He has hit in 10 straight and has reached base in 11 straight.

And the feared designated hitter can keep those streaks alive when he plays in his first World Series.

“To a certain degree, it’s getting overlooked because of who he is and the star that he is,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “He’s a guy that’s a big star that’s delivered. Can’t say enough about that.”

Philadelphia finished third in the NL East at 87-75, a full 14 games behind the 101-win Braves this season, and were the last club in the majors to make the 12-team playoff field. After a 2-0 sweep of NL Central champion St. Louis in MLB’s newly created wild-card round, the Phillies needed only four games to knock out Atlanta, the defending World Series champs.

Now they'll try to become the first team that finished in third place to win a World Series.

The Padres took a 3-2 lead in a sloppy seventh inning as rain pounded Citizens Bank Park and turned portions of the infield, notably around third base, into a mud pit.

But it was Phillies reliever Seranthony Dominguez’s slippery grip that almost cost the Phillies.

Starter Zack Wheeler was fantastic again and struck out eight over six innings. He was lifted with a 2-1 lead after Jake Cronenworth's leadoff single in the seventh.

Dominguez couldn’t find his feel with the ball as the rain picked up, puddles formed near third base and the infield dirt turned to mush. He threw one wild pitch and Josh Bell lined a tying RBI double to right that made it 2-1.

Dominguz then threw two more wild pitches that allowed pinch-runner Jose Azocar to scamper home for the 3-2 lead. The righty reliever threw only three wild pitches in 51 innings all season -- then uncorked three in the seventh.

Things got tense in Philly.

But they always had Harper in their back pocket like a lucky charm.

“Harper had a huge moment there,” Padres slugger Manny Machado said. “You just have to tip your hat.”

Hoskins, Harper, Wheeler have left a trail of indelible moment at Citizens Bank as they improved to 5-0 at home, where they will play World Series Games 3, 4 and 5.

Game 5 of the NLCS was no exception.

The Phillies caught a break in the third when NL home run champion Kyle Schwarber was called out on a two-out stolen-base attempt. The call was overturned on replay, and the Phillies had new life.

Hoskins, who came hitting a quite memorable .171, smashed one into the left field seats off starter Yu Darvish as the crowd went wild. He hopped down the line as he mouthed some words to his teammates in the dugout and twirled his bat -- not unlike the steadily-spinning rally towels -- as he gave them a 2-0 lead.

Wheeler gave up Soto’s solo homer in the inning that made it 2-1. Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove snapped a Polaroid picture of Soto in the dugout.

Try as they might, the Padres weren’t ready for their close up.

The Phillies were picture perfect. Second baseman Jean Segura cleared a path on the infield as the rest of the Phillies sat near the mound, took off on a running start and slid head first into the team photo.

Then it was time to party.

Harper demanded it.

Related video above: Houston and Philly fans celebrate World Series

Bryce Harper hammered his sixth postseason home run, whispered an assist to Alec Bohm before his solo shot and the Philadelphia Phillies tied a World Series record with five homers to rout the Houston Astros 7-0 Tuesday night and take a 2-1 Series lead.

Brandon Marsh also homered, and Kyle Schwarber and Rhys Hoskins hit back-to-back shots in the fifth inning to chase Astros starter Lance McCullers Jr. Philadelphia used the long ball to end the long wait for its first World Series home win since Game 5 of the 2009 World Series.

Those Phillies couldn't finish the job.

Ranger Suárez tossed a three-hit ball over five shutout innings and inched this year's team closer to getting it done.

Harper, Bohm, Marsh and the rest of the Phillies on the last team to qualify for the playoffs are two wins away from ending the season as the last team standing. With a sparkling 6-0 record at Citizens Bank Park this postseason, the Phillies just may not return to Texas.

Another red, raucous, resolute crowd of 45,712 let the Astros have it from the first pitch with chants of "Cheater! Cheater!" for Jose Altuve and "Check the Bat! Check the Bat!" for Martin Maldonado.

The fans — already amped from the jump after another sliding catch by right fielder Nick Castellanos in the first — didn't wait long to go wild for the home run barrage.

With leadoff hitter Schwarber on first base, Harper repeated his flair for playoff power when he ripped a two-run shot off McCullers into the right field seats for the fast lead. That made Harper 2 for 2 on home run swings in Philly — he sent the Phillies to the World Series with a two-run drive in Game 5 of the NL Championship Series to beat San Diego.

Harper crossed the plate and again exclaimed "This is my house!" before he ripped off his helmet, exposed his Phillie Phanatic headband and was mobbed by teammates in the dugout.

Harper's homers shake the stadium to the point they should be measured on the Richter scale rather in feet — and they seem as automatic these days as a Phillie Phanatic spin on his ATV. Harper has hit four postseason homers that gave the Phillies the lead and showed that, yes, Bryce Bombs do go off in November, the first time more World Series games will be played in this month than October.

Oh, and Harper might have a second career as a homer whisperer.

Harper beckoned Bohm from the on-deck circle and back to the dugout for a quick word of advice.

Maybe Harper saw McCullers tipping his pitches?

Whatever the quiet counseling was, it worked, and Bohm lined his first postseason homer and the 1,000th in World Series history into the left field seats for 3-0 lead.

So c'mon, Alec, fess up, what did Bryce tell you?

"That's between us," Bohm said on TV with a shrug and a big smile.

Marsh took the baton on the long-ball relay and knocked one into the right field seats that was dropped by a young kid from Delaware. The home run stood after a brief review — as it seems nothing can interfere with Philadelphia's playoff push — and it was 4-0.

With that, McCullers had allowed four homers to his first nine batters. The right-hander who got his left triceps inked with nods to Houston got absolutely tattooed by the Phillies.

Schwarber, the NL home run champion, again dumped a two-run shot into a thicket of English ivy, Arborvitae and Holly beyond center field, and Hoskins connected on solo shot for a 7-0 lead that ended McCullers' night.

McCullers became the first pitcher to give up five home runs in a World Series game.

Suarez, the scheduled Game 4 starter before Game 3 was postponed a day by rain, delivered with the performance of his career and shut down the big bats in the AL champs' lineup.

He needed only two pitches to get the first two outs of the game and struck out Yordan Alvarez to end the first. The few jams he got into, Suarez worked his way out, notably in the second when he whiffed Chas McCormick and left two runners stranded. He retired Altuve to end the fifth on a soft foul pop with two runners on base.

Four relievers each tossed a scoreless inning to finish the five-hitter.

THE CHAMPS ARE HERE

Philly sports champions Mike Schmidt, Julius Erving, Brandon Graham and Bernie Parent threw first pitches to 2008 World Series champions Ryan Howard, Cole Hamels, Jayson Werth and Shane Victorino. Country music star Tim McGraw, son of the late Phillies reliever Tug McGraw, received a huge ovation and wore his dad's No. 45 McGraw jersey. McGraw closed the 1980 World Series with a strikeout.

UP NEXT

The Phillies send RHP Aaron Nola (2-1, 4.57 ERA in the postseason) to the mound against Houston RHP Christian Javier (1-0, 1.35 ERA) in Game 4. Nola was done after 4 1/3 innings in Game 1 of the World Series, though he retired the final six batters he faced and left in a tie game after the Phillies rallied from an early 5-0 deficit — and won 6-5.

NEW YORK (AP) — Slick-fielding third baseman Scott Rolen was elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame on Tuesday with five votes to spare above the 75% needed.

The seven-time All-Star and eight-time Gold Glove winner appeared on 297 of 389 ballots cast by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America for 76.3%. A player needed 292 votes for election.

He became the 18th third baseman elected to the Hall, the fewest of any position.

Rolen’s 76.3% of the vote was the smallest margin for an electee since Al Simmons got 199 votes in 1953 for 75.38%, one more vote than needed. Ferguson Jenkins (75.4% in 1991), Ralph Kiner (75.41% in 1975) and Willie Keeler (75.55% in 1939) made it with one ballot to spare.

First baseman Todd Helton was second with 281 (72.2%) and reliever Billy Wagner third with 265 (68.1%)

Rolen will join Fred McGriff, elected last month by the contemporary baseball era committee, as the inductees at Cooperstown on July 23.

Among 14 players appearing on the ballot for the first time, Carlos Beltrán received 181 votes. Beltrán’s vote total likely was impacted by his role in the Houston Astros cheating scandal en route to the 2017 World Series title.

Rolen increased his votes from 63.2% last year and 10.2% in his first ballot appearance in 2018.

Helton moved up from 52% and can have five more appearances, while Wagner rose from 51% and has two additional chances.

Next year’s first-time eligibles include Adrián Beltré, Joe Mauer, David Wright, José Bautista and Matt Holliday.