Hardly a classic, but Astros will take it
HOUSTON — They are doing this.
And you know what? Maybe they’re just going to do it.
The Astros are now two wins away from winning the World Series. And they still haven’t lost a home game since the playoffs started.
Old friend Yu Darvish was battered and discarded before the second inning was over in Game 3. Lance McCullers Jr. fought, battled and ultimately held on just long enough.
There was a four-run outbreak and a critical Little League-like run in the fifth.
Of course, Friday night back at Minute Maid Park had none of the Hollywood magic of Game 2. And, sure, the Astros have played a ton of sharper games in 2017. Oh well and whatever. All that matters this late into October are glorious, undebateable Ws. So it was A.J. Hinch’s club 5-3 in Game 3, it’s 2-1 Astros in this World Series and the squad that’s a sparkling 7-0 in downtown Houston this postseason will gladly take two more of these any way it can get them.
“Four runs in any game is big. Four runs in the World Series is huge,” said Hinch, in a messy game defined by random selections of Astros swagger. “To get that kind of momentum started, get the crowd into it, have the lead — it puts a ton of pressure on the other dugout.”
The 101-win team is taking this from the 104-win club. And ever since the top of the ninth in stunned Los Angeles, the pennant winner from the American League has felt like the stronger, more driven team.
Yasiel Puig’s dropping things, bouncing balls and running into outs.
George Springer’s hitting game-winning, late-night shots and diving into shallow center field for hero grabs.
The Astros had one run and three hits in Game 1. They have 12 runs and 26 hits in the last two.
Josh Reddick’s hitting again, Yuli Gurriel hasn’t stopped, the Astros’ 5 through 9 hitters combined for an outstanding 9-for-17 evening in Game 3, and Brad Peacock smoothly locked it down in 32⁄3 innings of scoreless relief.
“The quality of our atbats [Friday] were incredible,” Hinch said. “That’s more of our identity, that’s what we’re about. And to see it carry over from the last game to this game was welcome.” The moment 7-6 in 11 became an instant classic in L.A., we knew what the Astros were staring at. Three straight games in their roaring, echoing stadium with the glued-on roof. Three potential championship-defining opportunities to take control of this series and back Los Angeles hard up against a wall for the first time all year.
After going 55 seasons without winning a single World Series game, the Astros have now won two straight and are just the second team in MLB history to win their first seven home games in a postseason, joining 2008 World Series champion Philadelphia. Keep attacking like this in the home they own, and that 104-win squad will soon be waiting till next year again.
“The energy in this building is second to none,” Hinch said. “There’s a great enthusiasm around our fanbase right now with this team. They’ve fallen in love with this team.”
That slumping, barelyhitting team from Houston that could score only two runs in the initial 16 innings of the World Series? As everyone in Hollywood knows, it exploded for six huge runs in the final four frames of Game 2.
Then the suddenly scorching Astros put up four more in the second inning of Game 3, knocking Darvish back to Round Rock and blasting the Dodgers’ big trade-deadline acquisition from the mound before the second was complete.
It was 4-0 Astros. It felt like double that, at least, with Minute Maid approaching its AL Championship Series roar and the Astros cracking almost everything they saw.
A series so tight through the seventh inning of Game 2 — just one more critical hit than the other team, and you could blow the night open — had completely changed, and the Astros were now on another one of their seasonlong, hit-it-all streaks.
Two more of theseand we’ll soon be spending the entire offseason talking about the other thing this franchise hasn’t won — yet.
“I want the fourth World Series win,” Hinch said. “That’s the key one for the city.”