Astros lead World Series 3-2 after 10th-inning win
HOUSTON — Alex Bregman’s run-scoring single off Kenley Jansen with two outs in the 10th inning gave the Houston Astros a 13-12 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers Sunday night and a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven World Series.
Silent early when ace Dallas Keuchel allowed Los Angeles to spurt ahead 4-0, the crowd erupted over and over as the Astros sent balls careening all around — and out of — pulsating Minute Maid Park.
Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, Yuli Gurriel, George Springer and Brian Mccann homered for Houston, which tied the score 4-4 against Clayton Kershaw, fell behind 7-4 on Cody Bellinger’s three-run homer, then rallied again to lead 11-8 after seven innings and 12-9 after eight.
Yasiel Puig’s two-run homer in the ninth off Chris Devenski was the record 22nd of the Series, and Chris Taylor tied the score with a two-out, two-strike RBI single.
Jensen hit Mccann with a pitch with two outs, George Springer walked and Derek Fisher pinch ran for Mccann at second.
Bregman won the 5-hour, 17-minute marathon with a liner into left field.
Fisher beat the throw
SERIES
home by a wide margin, sending the crowd into a frenzy.
Joe Musgrove, Houston’s seventh pitcher, worked a scoreless 10th for the victory.
Game 6 is Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium, where Justin Verlander will try to clinch the Astros’ first championship and Rich Hill hopes to save the Dodgers’ season.
Puig’s home run was the 22nd of the Series, topping the previous record set in the Anaheim Angels’ seven-game win over San Francisco in 2002.
Mccann hit Houston’s fifth home run, a bases-empty blast in the eighth that gave the Astros a 12-9 lead going into the ninth inning.
The five homers matched the most hit by a team in a World Series game.
Out of nowhere, the Astros climbed out of a four-run hole against Kershaw and then erased two more deficits later in the game, tying it each time on a homer.
Correa leaped and twirled after launching a two-run drive made it 11-8 in the seventh. McCann’s shot in the eighth added a much-needed insurance run.
Cody Bellinger homered for Los Angeles, a three-run drive in the fifth that made it 7-4 and seemed to swing things back in the Dodgers’ favor. By the end of the mayhem on the mound, it was a mere afterthought.
The Astros (13) and Dodgers (9) topped the Series mark for homers, set when Barry Bonds and the Giants lost to the Angels in seven games in 2002.
But really, who imagined this? No wonder there’s a bright sign high above the center field wall for a popular taco place in town — it says Torchy and fit perfectly for a game where pitchers got lit up.
A day earlier, Kershaw stood alone on the mound after the Dodgers’ dramatic win in Game 4, trying to get a visual for the biggest start of his career.
This was definitely not how he pictured it.
The three-time NL Cy Young Award winner cruised into the fourth with a 4-0 lead before things suddenly fell apart. After Correa hit an RBI double, Gurriel hit a tying, three-run drive.
Kershaw whipped his head around to watch Gurriel’s drive sail, his face immediately showing shock, utter disbelief and frustration, all wrapped up in one expression before he bent over, hands on his knees.
Yanked in the fifth, Kershaw trudged off with a dubious distinction — he has allowed a postseason-record eight home runs this year.
Hardly a repeat performance from the opener, when Kershaw dominated while outpitching Keuchel for a 3-1 win.