WORLD SERIES NOTEBOOK
STILL CONFIDENT
Braves center fielder Adam Duvall, who hit a first-inning grand slam to put Atlanta up early Sunday, isn’t concerned about his team’s collective confidence.
The Braves haven’t suffered consecutive losses in 24 games, a span that dates to Sept. 23-24 at Arizona and San Diego.
“We’ve learned to turn the page, and we’ve learned to celebrate the win or go over the loss and figure out what we need to do better and then turn the page and come back,” Duvall said. “It’s a quick turnaround, and we play a lot of games. You’ve got to be shortminded and be able to forget when you need to forget. Just turn the page and play your best ball tomorrow.”
BREGMAN MOVES DOWN
Houston manager Dusty Baker
moved third baseman Alex Bregman down in his batting order.
Entering Game 5, Bregman had only one hit in 14 World Series at-bats (.071) with no homers and one RBI. He was hitting seventh. He was 0-for-5 with two strikeouts in Saturday’s night’s 3-2 loss while hitting third in Game 4. He went 1 for 4 with a double and an RBI in Game 5.
Baker said he hoped to move Bregman back up in a lineup with the designated hitter returning to Houston for Game 6.
NO LONGER PERFECT AT HOME
The Braves entered Game 5 trying to extend one of their most impressive home postseason performances in team history.
Atlanta was 7-0 at home in the postseason, including wins in Games 3 and 4. It marked their second-longest home winning streak in the postseason, and the longest in one postseason. They won eight consecutive home postseason games from Oct. 7, 1995, to Oct. 9, 1996.
Overall, the Braves had won 12 of their last 13 home games before Game 5.
The Astros are 5-2 at home this postseason.