Astros get defensive to lock down victory
Clutch plays across the board help to preserve slim lead
For all the success the Astros have enjoyed since their bats came to life in the latter stages of Game 2, it’s their defense that helped secure their Game 3 win Friday night.
Even though the Astros have no Rawlings Gold Glove finalists, they flashed star-quality leather throughout.
Starter Lance McCullers Jr., shortstop Carlos Correa, second baseman Jose Altuve, centerfielder George Springer and first baseman Yuli Gurriel all had plays at critical moments to help the Astros secure a game in which they had 12 hits but stranded 12 baserunners in a game that remained in doubt into the ninth.
“The defense has been steady since beginning of the postseason,” said Astros manager A.J. Hinch. “And we have athletes all over the field. We do execute plays. We handle the ball pretty cleanly, It’s something we talk about a lot.
“To see it on the biggest stage is where why we’re having the success that we’re having. These plays are not easy. We practice a lot. We have an attention to detail. The players are playing tremendous defense, and not giving away too many 90-foot increments, which is great.”
With a little luck
The Astros had some help, on the part of some questionable baserunning by Yasiel Puig, and some good fortune that centerfielder George Springer stumbled his way into a diving catch, but they were good, too.
McCullers helped himself in the third, when he walked the bases loaded. Gurriel went to his right to track down Cory Seager’s grounder and start a 3-6-1 double play that wrapped up when McCullers hustled to first to take Correa’s throw.
In the fourth, Puig’s shot off third baseman Alex Bregman’s glove bounced into the corner where the low wall juts toward the third-base foul line. Correa tracked it down and threw to Altuve, and the second baseman dived to tag out Puig, who had hesitated after crossing first base before heading to second.
An inning later, Springer saved a run when he broke in on Justin Taylor’s sinking line drive, dove and made the catch to strand Joc Pederson at third with the third out of the inning.
“I actually tripped a little bit, which kind of started my dive,” Springer said. “I was just happy to hold onto it.
“It wasn’t a full-on, ‘I’m going to dive for this.’ I actually did slowly trip, and at that point in time, I had to dive because I was falling down.”
Poor fielding, meanwhile, cost the Dodgers a run in the fifth. Reliever Tony Watson tracked down Evan Gattis’ soft grounder but threw wide to the home plate side of first. The ball got past first baseman Cody Bellinger, and Josh Reddick, who had a two-out base hit, scored from first to make it 5-1.
After a two-out walk in the seventh, with the Dodgers having closed within two runs, Gurriel dove to his left to track down a blast by Chris Taylor, then reached back to his left to get the out and retire the side.
Laying it on the line
Some plays didn’t turn out as planned. Bregman whacked his leg on one headfirst dive toward the stands in foul ground behind third base and came up empty. His main concern afterward, though, was that he hadn’t made the play.
“When you have our pitchers attacking the zone, it keeps us on our toes,” Bregman said. “Defense is going to be big for us. It’s the World Series. We’re laying our bodies on the line.”
Friday’s plays continued the trend that grabbed center stage in the American League Championship Series. Left fielder Marwin Gonzalez threw out Yankees first baseman Greg Bird at home, and right fielder Josh Reddick had two sparkling plays of note.
Reddick took a home run away from Yankees designated hitter Chase Headley and was the first link in retiring Brett Gardner on Gardner’s drive into the right field corner.
“The way our team plays is to go out and try to make every play that you possibly can,” Springer said. “For us to continue to show up on that side of the ball is a big thing.”