Astros win wild one
LOS ANGELES — They don’t make rallies like they used to.
They make them much, much better.
In last night’s instant classic Game 2 of the World Series, the Astros were just a wee bit better at rallying than the Dodgers, the difference serving to even this series at 1-1.
The 7-6 Houston victory will go down as an 11-inning, non-stop rally that featured eight home runs, nine runs scored from the eighth inning on, seven in the two extra innings and in the end, a pair of death-defying, crypt-busting teams that refused to accept what appeared to be an all but certain loss.
After the Astros staged a four-run rally that brought them back from a two-run deficit in the eighth to a two-run lead in the 10th, it was the Dodgers turn to burst from the crypt.
Beginning with Yasiel Puig’s leadoff home run, and then Kike Hernandez’ RBI single, the Dodgers knotted the crazy backand-forth game one more time at 5-5.
In the top of the 11th, however, it was Connecti- cut’s own George Springer who was responsible for the only unanswerable statement, a two-run home run off Brandon McCarthy.
That sent the series back to Texas to play three games where the Astros have a 6-0 record this postseason.
The Dodgers had been 5-0 at home in the playoffs and looked to be sailing to a 6-0 in the eighth, which began with them up, 3-1.
That’s when Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts got aggressive and went to his elite closer Kenley Jansen with no outs in the eighth, as soon as leadoff hitter Alex Bregman hit a groundrule double off Brandon Morrow. A groundout and single up the middle by Carlos Correa scored Bregman to narrow the Astros’ deficit to 3-2, though Jansen retired the next two batters. The run snapped a 28-inning scoreless streak from the Dodgers bullpen.
In the top of the ninth, Marwin Gonzalez then tied the game with a solo shot off Jansen.
Astros starter Justin Verlander had a no-hitter through the first 42⁄3 innings before the Dodgers, down 1-0, evened the score on Joc Pederson’s solo home run.
The score was still tied the following inning and once again Verlander retired the first two batters. But then, in a rather eerie replay of Game 1’s scoring scene, the Dodgers jumped to the lead in the sixth on a two-run home run.
Tuesday night, Chris Taylor worked a two-out walk against starter Dallas Keuchel and he did it again off of Verlander. The batting order was tweaked from the night before, when Justin Turner hit the two-run game-winner. This time, left-handed hitting Corey Seager batted after Taylor. He waited on a pitch from Verlander to hit an opposite-field home run over the left-field fence for the 3-1 Dodgers lead.
LA starter Rich Hill’s control was not in tip-top shape. He walked the first batter he faced, then retired the next six in a row. In the third, however, he ran into the only spot of trouble that wound up costing him a run on Alex Bregman’s single for the 1-0 lead.
Hill finished four innings, allowing the one run on three hits and three walks. He struck out seven.