Astros emerge triumphant in Game 2 thriller
Dodgers’ bullpen blows two-run lead late as Houston’s bats come alive for 11-inning victory
The first blast shocked. The second blast stunned. The third blast silenced. The fourth blast finished.
Bam, bam, bam, bam, the Los Angeles Dodgers have lost a World Series game, a World Series advantage, and every bit of World Series momentum.
After three weeks of partying, a full Dodger Stadium crowd fell into hushed mourning Wednesday night at a sight they thought they would never again see this season.
The Dodgers blew it. The Dodgers blew it big. The Dodgers lost a game that could have set them on an unalterable course toward a World Series championship, one that instead has sent their title hopes careening back into limbo.
Three outs from taking a seemingly insurmountable two-games-to-none lead against the Houston Astros, the Dodgers allowed a game-tying homer in the ninth, two home runs in the 10th and one final eventual game-winning two-run shot by George Springer in the 11th for a 7-6 Houston Astros victory.
Four long balls squelched what seemed to be a foregone conclusion. Four dingers landed into the laps of Dodgers fans who were so dizzied, one fool even leapt into the Astros bullpen during the barrage as if that would help.
It didn’t. The series is suddenly tied, the next three games are in Houston, and the once untouchable Dodgers appear vulnerable.
It wasn’t just that they lost, it was how they lost.
Kenley Jansen, the unhittable closer who had not allowed an earned run this postseason, gave up the game-tying home run in the ninth to Marwin Gonzalez.
Josh Fields, part of a bullpen that had earlier completed a postseason-record 28 consecutive scoreless relief innings, then allowed consecutive 10th-inning homers to Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa, with Correa celebrating with a monstrous bat flip that surely raised eyebrows in the Dodger dugout.
Then, after the Dodgers had scored twice in the 10th to tie it on Yasiel Puig’s homer and Enrique Hernandez’s run-scoring single, the magic finally ran out.
In the 11th inning against Brandon McCarthy, absent from the first two rounds of the playoffs and having made only three appearances since July 20, Cameron Maybin singled and Springer went deep.
It wasn’t quite done after Charlie Culberson homered in the bottom of the 11th, but the Astros’ Chris Devenski struck out Puig to end the game and usher in the doubt.
The result cannot be considered unthinkable, because October baseball expands the realm of possibility and exposes the soul to untold anguish. The Dodgers had avoided this fate for so much of these playoffs. They were the team who broke hearts, who snuffed out dreams. Except until this week, they had not stared down an opponent like the Astros.
As the homers soared through the night, the aroma of a nearby brushfire wafted over Chavez Ravine. It felt like a metaphor. Until the bottom of the 10th, when the Dodgers offered a reminder of their own ability to singe a bullpen.
Puig greeted Astros closer Ken Giles with a solo home run. Logan Forsythe took a two-out walk, and Enrique Hernandez incited bedlam with a game-tying single through the right side of the infield.
An inning later, after Springer’s homer, Culberson cut the lead in half with a two-out solo homer. The two teams set a World Series record with eight home runs. None would follow Culberson’s. The Dodgers had run out of comebacks.
“All year long we’ve done a nice job of recovering, turning the page, whether it’s a big win or tough loss,” Roberts said. “It’s a tough loss.”
Heading into the fifth, Astros ace Justin Verlander had still not bent. In time, the Dodgers came as close to breaking him as any other team has this October.
Joc Pederson tied the score by hitting a hanging slider over the right-field wall with two outs in the fifth. An inning later, after a two-out walk by Chris Taylor, Corey Seager smashed a two-run homer.
Upon contact, Seager screamed. He unleashed another yell when the baseball soared over the wall in left. In the dugout, Clayton Kershaw lifted his arms and howled with delight.
In Game 3 in Houston on Friday, the Dodgers will face young Lance McCullers Jr. while countering with All-Star Yu Darvish, so they could quickly regain their mojo. But then again, now anything seems possible here.
For a while Wednesday night, with the Dodgers having knocked Verlander out of the game and leading by a run in the ninth, it appeared this World Series could be nearing its end.
Now – bam, bam, bam, bam – it is just getting started.
(Los Angeles Times/TNS)