Peacock soars in relief
Dominating outing by righthander helps nail down Series lead
Before Game 3 of the World Series, the notion that Astros manager A.J. Hinch would need 11 outs from his bullpen might have suggested defeat for the American League champions.
But to finish a 5-3 victory that gave the Astros their first ever series lead in a Fall Classic, Hinch let Brad Peacock fly for 32⁄3 dominant innings of hitless relief Friday night at Minute Maid Park.
A four-run barrage against Los Angeles Dodgers starter Yu Darvish stood as the Astros’ primary source of offense. They chased Darvish, the ex-Texas Rangers ace, in the second inning. Lance McCullers Jr., while far from his sharpest, gave the Astros a solid 51⁄3 innings. Peacock retired 11 of the 12 batters he faced and didn’t allow a hit.
“I didn’t expect to get the save opportunity,” Peacock said. “But I knew they were taking some bad swings at my fastball and I kind of had a feeling he was going to leave me in there and thankfully he did. It was awesome.”
“Light’s out today,” teammate Carlos Correa added. “It was really special to watch.”
The Astros’ first win in a World Series game in Houston put them ahead in the series, two games to one. Game 4 is Saturday night. Hinch will give the ball to righthander Charlie Morton to oppose lefthander Alex Wood.
The depth of baseball’s best lineup led the way Friday in front of an announced 43,282 at the latest game on the calendar the Astros have ever played. Yuli Gurriel opened the scoring with a home run and later doubled. Josh Reddick singled and doubled. Brian McCann singled three times out of the nine-hole.
Despite out-hitting the Dodgers, 12-4, the Astros left a lot of meat on the bone. They had only three hits in 14 at-bats with runners in scoring position and left 12 runners on base. With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, George Springer missed a grand slam to center field by a few feet against Ross Stripling.
Darvish chased early
The Astros pummeled Darvish, who had been dominant in his previous postseason starts against the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Chicago Cubs. On Friday, his pitches looked flat. Of the 49 pitches the Japanese righthander threw, only one extracted a swing and miss. Many more were scorched or fouled off.
Darvish lasted only 12⁄3 innings, the first time in 136 starts since he debuted in the majors he didn’t complete at least three. It was his first time not registering a single strikeout.
He issued only one walk but six hits, four that went for extra bases.
Gurriel sparked the Astros’ four-run second inning with a home run into the Crawford Boxes that registered an exit velocity of 104.3 mph. Jose Altuve cranked a double at 107.5 mph. Even an out by Springer came off his bat at 104.9 mph, a sacrifice fly by Alex Bregman off his at 103.5.
By the time Dodgers manager Dave Roberts replaced Darvish with Kenta Maeda, the Astros led 4-0.
The shutdown third inning the Astros sought from McCullers eluded them, though. The 24-year-old righthander lost command of his fastball and his curveball, which resulted in walks to the eight- and nine-hole hitters, Joc Pederson and Kike Hernandez, and leadoff man Chris Taylor to begin the frame.
But just after Hinch called for Peacock to begin warming up, McCullers induced a groundball from Corey Seager. Gurriel fielded it and fired to second base, where Carlos Correa received it and fired back to a covering McCullers for the double play. A run scored, but the double play limited the damage significantly.
Hinch decided to let Peacock finish the game.
“He was cruising. Their swings weren’t conistent. His fastball was playing. His slider was playing,” Hinch said. “I’m kind of liking in this postseason bringing back the three-inning save.”
Maeda’s status uncertain
Dodgers super reliever Maeda gave his team 22⁄3 dominant innings, probably rendering him unavailable until at least Sunday.
Roberts called on lefthander Tony Watson, who helped to give the Astros an insurance run when he misfired on a throw to first base after fielding a two-out chopper by Evan Gattis. Waved around by always aggressive Astros third base coach Gary Pettis, Reddick scored from first on the play, his slide beating Yasiel Puig’s throw.
The Dodgers got the run back and one more in the sixth. McCullers issued a leadoff walk to Seager before spinning a twostrike curveball that Justin Turner ripped down the third-base line for a double.
After McCullers struck out Cody Bellinger for a third time, Hinch pulled him in favor of Peacock to face Puig. A groundout narrowed the Astros’ lead to three runs. A wild pitch by Peacock on a slider to pinch-hitter Chase Utley plated Turner and made it a 5-3 game.
But Peacock hunkered down from there on out. The rest of the game belonged to him.
“He’s got a really effective fastball. It’s pretty deceiving,” Dodgers outfielder Cody Bellinger said. “I don’t know what he does to it. But that’s why he’s in the big leagues, pitching in the World Series. He made pitches in big time situations to end the game today.”