Rosario plays Truist’s left field right
ATLANTA — The Braves’ Eddie Rosario knew the lay of the land of Truist Park in Game 4 of the World Series on Saturday night. The Astros’ Yordan Alvarez did not.
Rosario’s familiarity with left field — and Alvarez’s unfamiliarity with the same grass and dirt – played a role in the Braves’ 3-2 victory over the Astros in the pivotal contest. Atlanta leads the series 3-1 and can close it out on Sunday night at Truist Park.
The Astros led 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh when Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson belted a home run to right field off Astros reliever Cristian Javier to tie the game.
“He’s got great stuff,” Swanson told Fox Sports afterward of Javier. “This game, it’s so funny, it can be such a challenging game — it can be so hard.”
The Braves’ next batter, Jorge Soler, launched a drive to left field that Alvarez hustled toward the fence on.
Alvarez could have perhaps snatched away a home run, but instead awkwardly slammed against the outfield wall as the ball flew next to his glove and over the fence. Alvarez is typically the Astros’ designated hitter in the American League, but was playing left field in the home park of a National League squad to keep his big bat in the lineup.
Soler’s home run — the first time Atlanta has clubbed back-toback homers in the World Series
in franchise history —lifted the Braves to a late 3-2 lead they’d retain the rest of the way.
A half-inning later, the Astros’ Jose Altuve hit his own line drive to left, in the top of the eighth. Much like Alvarez, Rosario rushed toward the left field wall. He lifted his glove at the last second and hauled in Altuve’s drive against the wall.
Rosario’s impressive catch ended the Astros’ last true threat
of the night. A day before, Astros manager Dusty Baker had lamented his team’s inability to practice on Truist’s field because of persistent rain in the Atlanta area Friday. It lightly rained much of Saturday as well, leading to Game 5.
“It’s not only going to affect our outfield, it’s going to affect our infielders as well, because they don’t know if it’s playing faster because it’s wet,” Baker said before
Game 3, a 2-0 Braves victory. “… Hopefully we can have a bunch of strikeouts, and don’t have a whole bunch of plays.
“… We don’t really know how it’s going to play – I’m just hoping they don’t have any adverse plays against us.”
Alvarez’s uncomfortable play, of course, was about as adverse as it gets for an outfielder.
The series continues Sunday night with Game 5 in Truist Park, and the Braves have a chance to win their first World Series since 1995. That series against the Cleveland Indians was decided in six games, with Atlanta winning on its home field, which at that time was Fulton County Stadium.
The Astros are trying to win their first World Series since 2017 and they last played in the World Series in 2019, which the Washington Nationals won in seven games in Houston. The Astros will now need three consecutive victories.
Four years ago, the Astros did not win more than two consecutive games in defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games. Meantime, the Braves improved to 7-0 at home in the postseason.
The Astros on Saturday did not help themselves offensively, either, by stranding 11 runners. Trailing by a run, the Astros went quietly in the ninth inning. Michael Brantley watched a called third strike, Alex Bregman popped out to the infield and Alvarez, who stayed in the game despite banging against the wall, grounded out harmlessly to first base.
The lead change in the seventh inning was the first of the series. Atlanta won the opener in Minute Maid Park 7-2 and the Astros responded with a 6-2 victory in Game 2. Atlanta battled back with the 2-0 victory in Game 3 and then Saturday night’s one-run victory to grab the commanding 3-1 lead.