HOUSTON — Just as they had done the night before, the Astros built a five-run lead Saturday for a starting pitcher they could trust.

The difference this time? That pitcher delivered.

Framber Valdez, with a lackluster World Series history to overcome, gave the Astros the kind of performance they had expected a night earlier from Justin Verlander. With the left-handed Valdez’s superb outing into the seventh inning as their guide, the Astros beat the Phillies 5-2 in Game 2 of the World Series at Minute Maid Park.

The series, even at 1-1, will resume Monday night in Philadelphia, where Noah Syndergaard will get the ball for the Phillies against Lance McCullers Jr.

Valdez left to a standing ovation of twirling orange rally towels after throwing his 104th pitch of the game, and retiring Alec Bohm for the first out in the seventh inning, with the Astros ahead 5-0.

Rafael Montero allowed an inherited runner to score on Jean Segura’s sacrifice fly, closing the line on Valdez, who allowed one earned run on four hits and three walks over 6 ¹/₃ innings with nine strikeouts. Valdez started twice in the 2021 World Series against the Braves and flopped in both appearances, pitching to a 19.29 ERA.

“Definitely last year my emotions got the best of me,” Valdez said. “I wasn’t able to throw even more than two innings without giving up a run. But those were things that I was able to learn, separate my emotions from my job being on the field. Whenever I’m on the field, on the mound, I just keep my emotions outside of the field, try to stay calm, collected.”

Phillies ace Zack Wheeler had his worst start of this postseason, allowing five runs, four of which were earned, on six hits over five innings. The right-hander was removed after just 69 pitches, following Alex Bregman’s two-run homer in the fifth inning that placed the Phillies in a five-run hole.

But unlike Game 1, in which the Phillies rallied against Verlander in the middle innings — and ultimately went ahead in the 10th inning on J.T. Realmuto’s homer against Luis Garcia — the cavalry never arrived.

“[The win] was almost a mathematical must, because it’s tough when you lose the first two games at home,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “But I’ve been on the other side of things too, when we’ve won the first two games in the other team’s park years ago and then they came back and beat us. But it is good for the city, good for our fans, that they went home happy.”

In the bottom of the first inning, Wheeler threw all of four pitches in allowing three straight doubles to give the Astros a 2-0 lead. Jose Altuve and Jeremy Peña each jumped on a first pitch and doubled. Yordan Alvarez fouled off the first pitch he saw before joining the parade with a double.

After Bregman and Kyle Tucker were retired, Wheeler got Yuli Gurriel to hit a grounder to shortstop that should have ended the inning. But Edmundo Sosa hesitated before bouncing a throw that Rhys Hoskins couldn’t scoop, allowing Alvarez to score the inning’s third run. Sosa was charged with an error.

“[Altuve] set the tone, and it was awesome,” Bregman said. “I feel like that one swing of the bat to start off the game got the crowd into it, got our dugout into it, got our offense going. We knew we were facing one of the best pitchers in the world today and we just wanted to continue to try and battle and put together good at-bats.”

Wheeler avoided further trouble until the fifth, when Bregman crushed a two-run homer that extended the Astros’ lead to 5-0.

Valdez sizzled, striking out eight batters over the first five innings. The Phillies finally put the leadoff hitter of an inning on base in the fifth, when Segura singled, but Matt Vierling hit into a double play. Valdez walked a batter in each of the first two innings, but neither advanced past first base. The Phillies put two runners aboard against Valdez in the sixth, but Nick Castellanos hit into an inning-ending double play.

Montero pitched 1 ²/₃ innings of shutout relief, but not without brief drama. In the eighth inning, Kyle Schwarber hit a missile toward the right-field foul pole that was initially ruled fair for a two-run homer. But umpires convened and changed the call to foul, which was upheld by replay. Schwarber returned to the plate and hit a shot to right field that Tucker caught near the top of the fence.

The inning was extended on Realmuto’s grounder, which Peña fielded behind second base. Peña flipped the ball toward the bag, but Altuve, believing the shortstop was going to throw to first, was crouched on the ground away from the base and watched the ball plop to the ground.

Montero escaped by retiring Bryce Harper on a pop-out to short right.

In the ninth inning, Gurriel’s fielding error allowed the Phillies to score an unearned run against Ryan Pressly.