Brandon Phillips got the Reds' offense off to a good start, belting a home run deep into the left field bleachers, the first hit in the postseason for the Reds since 1995.
The Phillies defense let them down early as a double play seemed to be the way out of the second for Oswalt but a wide throw by Utley bounced by Howard and allowed another run to score.
Joey Votto led off the fourth inning with an upper deck blast to give the Reds a 3-0 lead.
After a sac fly that scored Brandon Phillips, the Phillies roared back, capitalizing on two Reds' errors in the 5th inning cut the lead to 4-2. Then in the 6th, the Phils loaded the bases and made it a 4-3 game after a bases loaded walk to Shane Victorino.
In the 7th, momentum shifted as the Phils got to fireballer Aroldis Chapman, scoring 2 runs on a ball that was lost in the lights by RF Jay Bruce and then a FC RBI groundout by Carlos Ruiz making the score 6-4 Phillies.
It was puzzling why Chapman waited for one out in the bottom of the 6th to start throwing as he did not have his A+ fastball, only hitting about 97-100 mph consistantly (normally 102-104 mph). As the inning unfolded, he found himself in the middle of a fire with the Phillies offense finally kicking it into gear.
The series shifts to Cincy as the Reds go home with their tale between their legs down 2-0 in the series when they were primed to even it at 1-1.
The Reds will throw Johnny Cueto out on the mound with their season on the line as Hollywood will take the hill when the Phils hand the ball to Cole Hamels on Sunday.
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