Dodgers beat Astros 3-1, force Game 7
LOS ANGELES (AP)
— Joc Pederson sliced a drive over the left-field wall, pounded his chest and danced around the bases, taking as many twists and turns as this World Series itself.
Of course, the Los Angeles Dodgers forced the Houston Astros to Game 7.
Chris Taylor hit a tying double off Justin Verlander during a two-run rally in the sixth inning, Corey Seager followed with a go-ahead sacrifice fly and the Dodgers beat the Astros 3-1 on Tuesday night to push this dramatic Fall Classic to the ultimate game.
Pederson homered in the seventh against Joe Musgrove, connecting off the right-hander for the second time in three games and making it a record 24 long balls that have been hit in this Series. Pederson pranced all the way to the plate, pointing at the Dodgers’ dugout and rubbing his thumbs and index fingers together to indicate what a money shot it was.
“You kind of black out in a situation like that. So I’m going to have to re-watch it to see what I did,” Peder- son said.
It was the third home run of the Series for Pederson, who was demoted to the minors from mid-August until early September, then left off the NL Division Series roster. He had hit just one previous big league oppositefield homer this season, and teammates offered to pay him to go the other way.
“People are trying to get me encouraged to using the whole field,” he said. “I’m not very good at it.”
Yu Darvish starts Wednesday for the Dodgers, trying to win their first title since 1988, and Los Angeles ace Clayton Kershaw will be ready in the bullpen after getting knocked out in the fifth inning of Game 5.
“I can give you 27 innings,” Kershaw said. “I’ll be ready to go, whatever they need.”
Lance McCullers Jr. gets the ball for the Astros in the first World Series Game 7 ever at Dodger Stadium.
Darvish was chased in the second inning of Game 2, when McCullers pitched Houston to a 5-3 victory.
“You’ve got two teams with a bunch of dogs in the clubhouse. No one is afraid,” McCullers said.
Two nights after a 13-12, 10-inning slugfest under the roof at Minute Maid Park, pitching dominated.
George Springer’s third-inning home run against starter Rich Hill had given a 1-0 lead to Verlander and the Astros, trying for the first championship in their 56-season history. On Halloween night, a title for a team with orange in its colors seemed appropriate.
But it served only to set up the 10th blown lead of the Series, the fifth by Houston, as Verlander fell to 9-1 with the Astros.
Dodgers relievers combined for 4 1/3 scoreless innings. Brandon Morrow retired Alex Bregman on a grounder to strand the bases loaded in the fifth, winner Tony Watson got Marwin Gonzalez to fly out with two on and two outs in the sixth, and Kenta Maeda escaped two-on trouble in the seventh when third baseman Justin Turner gloved Jose Altuve’s grounder and made a short-hop throw that first baseman Cody Bellinger scooped just in time.
After wasting a ninth-inning lead in Game 2 and losing Game 5, Kenley Jansen retired six straight batters (on 19 pitches) for the save and ended it by striking out 40-year-old pinch-hitter Carlos Beltran.
This will be the third World Series Game 7 in four years. The road team has won the last two after home teams had won every one since 1979.
Ten of the last 12 teams that won Game 6 to force a seventh game also won the title, but the Dodgers lost the previous six World Series in which they trailed 3-2. They have won just one of their six championships at home, in 1963.
A heat wave over and the skies overcast, the temperature dropped to 67 degrees at game time from 103 for last week’s opener, and there was a slight drizzle in the middle innings.
Los Angelenos with a laid-back reputation were on their feet for two-strike counts against Astros batters, a wave in Pantone 294 — also known as Dodger blue.
“We feed off the crowd, for sure,” Taylor said. “We feel we have a huge home-field advantage.”
Yuli Gurriel, who made a racist gesture toward Darvish in Game 3, was booed loudly during introductions and each time he batted, and Hill stepped off the rubber to allow the crowd extra time to jeer.