Is Lance McCullers tipping pitches? What really happened to Astros in Game 3

The Houston Astros faced an early 4-0 deficit in Game 3 against the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night, thanks in part to Lance McCullers’ inefficiencies on the mound.

The World Series is a bad time to have one of your worst outings of the season.

Yet, that’s exactly what Astros hurler Lance McCullers Jr. did in Game 3. The Phillies hit three home runs in the first two innings — the only time that’s happened in World Series history — in part because they knew what was coming.

Did McCullers tip his pitches? Perhaps, but that’s tough to prove. Here’s what we do know.

Bryce Harper hit the first pitch he saw from McCullers’, a breaking ball, into the right field seats. Shortly thereafter, he was seen whispering to Alec Bohm, presumably about what to expect in his next at-bat.

Now whether or not McCullers is tipping pitches is unknown, but Bohm wouldn’t comment on what Harper told him in the dugout after his home run.

Astros: What happened to Lance McCullers in Game 3?

It’s important to note that picking up on tipped pitches is perfectly legal. It’s one of the discrete nuances in baseball — a game predicated on outsmarting your opponent. If the Phillies were able to do that to McCullers on the game’s greatest stage, then all the power to them.

The more likely reason for McCullers’ struggles, though, is his pitch speed. ESPN’s Jeff Passan summed it up nicely:

“Lance McCullers Jr.’s fastball sat at 96 mph in the first inning. He started the second inning with a 93-mph version that ran into Alec Bohm’s wheelhouse, and he deposited it into the left field stands,” Passan wrote on Twitter.

Without the threat of the fastball, Phillies hitters, like Bohm, were able to sit on the breaking pitch. That’s precisely what Harper, Bohm and even Brandon Marsh did in the first two innings.