Extra effort: Astros use long ball to draw even
LOS ANGELES — George Springer screamed with excitement as he circled the bases after hitting a two-run homer off Brandon McCarthy in the 11th inning.
Would it be enough? Was this the final plot twist in one of the wildest World Series games ever?
Yes, it was — barely — and the Houston Astros won a World Series game for the first time in their 56-season history.
Charlie Culberson hit a two-out homer in the bottom half off winner Chris Devenski, who then struck out Yasiel Puig in a tense nine-pitch at-bat. The Astros outlasted the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-6 in a Hollywood thriller Wednesday night to tie the Series at one game apiece.
“This is an instant classic and to be part of it is pretty special,” Astros starter Justin Verlander said.
On a night of dramatic swings and a World Series-record eight home runs, Marwin Gonzalez stunned the Dodger Stadium crowd with a solo shot off dominant Los Angeles closer Kenley Jansen on an 0-2 pitch in the ninth that made it 3-all.
Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa hit consecutive home runs against Josh Fields in the 10th to build a 5-3 Astros lead, with Correa making a big bat flip to celebrate. But there was more. Much, much more.
“Oh my gosh, it was crazy. A lot of emotions, a lot of feelings,” Correa said. “The ball flies at this ballpark.”
Puig homered off Ken Giles starting the bottom of the 10th and Enrique Hernandez knotted the score 5-5 with a two-out RBI single.
Devenski entered and with Hernandez at second, a wild pickoff throw headed toward centre field before it struck second base umpire Laz Diaz. An incredulous Hernandez was unable to advance, and was stranded when Chris Taylor flied out.
Cameron Maybin, who had entered in the 10th, singled leading off the 11th against McCarthy, a surprise addition to the Dodgers’ World Series roster who was pitching for the first time since Oct. 1. Maybin stole second and Springer hit a drive to right-centre for a 7-5 lead, just the third 11th-inning home run in the Series after shots by Kirby Puckett in 1991 and David Freese in 2011.
Springer, an all-star leadoff hitter, was 0-for-4 with four strikeouts in the Series opener Tuesday.
Devenski retired Corey Seager and Justin Turner on lineouts in the bottom half. Puig checked his swing on a 2-2 pitch — the Astros jumped when first base umpire Gerry Davis signalled no swing — and Puig fouled off two more. Devenski threw his fifth straight changeup, and Puig swung over it as the Astros ran onto the field to celebrate after finally closing out a back-and-forth game that lasted four hours, 19 minutes.
After another steamy night in a Santa Ana heat wave, the series shifts to Texas and resumes Friday at Houston’s Minute Maid Park, where the retractable roof has not been open for a game since June 8. Lance McCullers Jr. starts for the Astros and Yu Darvish for the Dodgers, who acquired him from Texas at the July 31 trade deadline.
Houston is 6-0 at home in the post-season, where the Astros have outscored the Red Sox and Yankees by a combined 31-7, but just 2-5 on the road.
Before Gonzalez’s home run, the Dodgers had an 85 per cent chance of winning, according to Fangraphs. After Correa’s long ball, the Astros were a 93 per cent favourite.
“Up, down, up, down, up,” Springer said, describing his emotions. “That’s a heck of a game right there.”
Verlander entered the dugout in the 11th inning to scream at his teammates that the game was not over.
Alex Bregman’s RBI single in the third gave Houston its first lead of the Series, a hit that might have turned into a three-run, inside-the-park homer had not the ball bounced off the bill of Taylor’s hat in centre and deflected right to Joc Pederson in left.
Los Angeles had just two hits through seven innings but led 3-1 behind Pederson’s fifth-inning solo homer and Seager’s two-run drive in the sixth against Verlander. It was Pederson’s first home run since July 26.
Jansen entered with a 3-1 lead for his first six-out save in a year after Bergman doubled leading off the eighth against Brandon Morrow, a ball that ticked off the glove of a diving Puig in the rightfield corner.