Astros
World Series: Astros Outlast Dodgers For Epic 7-6 Victory
Houston wins first World Series game in franchise history.
The Houston Astros found themselves down 1-0 in the best of seven World Series against a Dodgers offense that seems to hit a home run in every game they play. On Wednesday night, in Game 2 the Astros sent the ALCS MVP Justin Verlander to the mound, with the hopes that he would shut down the soaring LA offense and give Houston a chance to even the series.
Well early on it seemed to be headed that way as Verlander retired the first 13 of 14 batters he faced, allowing a walk and no hits through 5.2 innings. Then Joc Pederson hit a mistake pitch from the Astros Ace into the right field stands, tying the game at 1-1. The Astros took an early 1-0 in the third on an Alex Bregman RBI single scoring Josh Reddick.
Verlander then settled down and retired the next three batters, before walking Chris Taylor and then tossing up a two-run shot off the bat of Corey Seager to give the Dodgers a 3-1 lead in the 6th.
As good as the Dodgers pen has been, an L.A. lead seemed like a guaranteed win, but the Astros didn’t just show up to the World Series, they have intentions of making noise and that is exactly what happened next.
In the top of the eighth, Carlos Correa singled home Bregman to pull within 3-2. Then in the ninth, with lights-out closer Kenley Jansen on the mound, unlikely hero Marwin Gonzalez hit an opposite field line drive home run over the left center field fence to tie the game at 3-3, quieting the Dodgers fans.
After the Dodgers failed to score in the bottom of the ninth, Houston re-took the lead on a home run from Jose Altuve and Correa added their fifth run on his own solo shot, as both stars went back-to-back.
In the bottom of the 10th, Yasiel Puig made his presence known as he launched a laser over the left center field fence, pulling the Dodgers within a run at 5-4. Then with two outs, Logan Forsythe walked, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored ahead of Enrique Hernandez‘s RBI single to tie the game at 5-5.
The epic game continued to the top of the 11th, as Cameron Maybin singled to lead-off the inning. Next batter George Springer hit his first home run of the series, scoring Maybin and putting the Astros back up by two.
The Dodgers had one last rally left in them as Charlie Culberson hit a solo home run to bring the Dodgers to within a run 7-6. Puig then battled through a nine pitch at bat, but succumbing to an 84 MPH change-up as he swung and missed, giving Houston their first ever World Series victory.
Now the Fall Classic shifts to Houston with the series tied 1-1.
On Friday both team are at it again in the pivotal Game three, with Yu Darvish taking the mound for the Dodgers and Lance McCullers Jr for the Astros. First pitch is scheduled for 8:00 pm.
David Conde
David is the Co-Founder and Executive Editor of Legends On Deck®, as well as a Co-Host on Legends On Deck Podcast. David was a Senior Editor for MetsMerizedOnline.com, MetsMinors.net and Contributor for Hardballchat.com that spanned from 2010 to 2014. David made his MLB Debut as a writer in June 2014, while covering the NY Mets at Citi Field, for MetsmerizedOnline.com. David also coaches baseball for ages 13-15, a Babe Ruth League team in his local community. David's passion is coaching the game he loves to the future Legends of Tomorrow as well as making available a website that people can have fun sharing and reading. David is also passionate about his career as a Mortgage Loan Officer which allows him to help many families reach their dreams of owning a home. Connect with David via his Social Media pages as he loves to chat all about baseball.
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