ASTROSGETTO DARVISH EARLY, LEADSERIES 2- 1
Gurriel caught making apparent racial gesture about Dodgers starter
HOUSTON — George Springer and the Astros broke out the bats early this time and kept up their big run at Minute Maid Park in October, beating the Dodgers 5- 3 on Friday night for a 2- 1 lead in the World Series.
The ballpark was booming from the start, with cheers, chants and a loud train whistle echoing beneath the closed roof. Yuli Gurriel homered to begin a four- run burst in the second inning that sent Yu Darvish to the shortest start of his career. Astros curveballer Lance McCullers Jr. wobbled but protected the lead into the sixth. Brad Peacock rose to the occasion with 3‰ innings of hitless relief.
Coming off a dramatic rally to win Game 2 at Dodger Stadium, the Astros improved to 7- 0 at home this postseason. They have outscored the Red Sox, Yankees and Dodgers 36- 10 in that span.
Game 4 will be Saturday night when Charlie Morton starts for the Astros. Left- hander AlexWood pitches for the Dodgers, facing a lineup that has put at least one runner on in 14 straight innings.
McCullers left in the sixth inning as the Dodgers scored twice to cut into a 5- 1 deficit. Peacock followed and shouldered the load for a shaky bullpen by posting his first save in 11 years of pro ball. The right- hander was nearly perfect, walking one and striking out four.
“It was awesome,” said Peacock, who made 21 starts and 13 relief appearances during the regular season. “I’ve never experienced anything like that in my life.”
The unorthodox Astros became the first team to have two saves of three- plus innings in one postseason.
They rode the momentum of a thrilling victory Wednesday night in Los Angeles in which they hung on to win 7- 6 in 11 innings. This wasn’t nearly as dramatic, not that the home crowd minded.
Gurriel homered into the Crawford Boxes in left to begin the second inning — he became the 13th hitter already to homer in this World Series. Josh Reddick followed with a double, and Evan Gattis, the designated hitter with the game in an American League park, drew a walk.
Marwin Gonzalez launched a drive off the wall in left and wound up with an RBI single when Gattis held at second, seeing if the ball would be caught. Brian McCann singled home another run, and Alex Bregman’s sacrifice fly made it 4- 0.
When Jose Altuve doubled, Darvish was done after 1‰ innings.
“The fastball command wasn’t there, and the slider was backing up. So he just really didn’t have the feel and couldn’t get any type of rhythm going,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
After his homer in the second, Gurriel was caught on camera in the dugout seemingly making a racial gesture mocking Darvish, who later called it “disrespectful.”
“It’s offensive to everybody,” Darvish said through a translator. “I’msure the Astros have Asian fans, too. He made a mistake. He’ll learn from it. We’re all human beings.”
Astros manager A. J. Hinch said Gurriel was “remorseful.” The first baseman is expected to meet Saturday with commissioner Rob Manfred, who could suspend him.
Last month, Darvish and several Dodgers players wore “Houston Strong T- shirts” to raise money for hurricane relief. The four- time AllStar also contributed to the relief efforts. On Thursday, Darvish kidded that maybe his goodwill would lead to good luck.
“Since I made that donation, maybe I can use a ball that doesn’t have much pop in it,” he said.
Didn’t quite work out that way.