Adam Duvall swung, and the baseball soared far and deep into the sky, destined for the annals of baseball history. The 43,122 Atlanta fans who had gathered at Truist Park, many of them were early comers and in the mood to celebrate with a World Series championship on the line, erupted into a boisterous cacophony.
As the Atlanta Braves soon discovered, the Houston Astros are also in town for a cause, despite the fact that they haven’t shown it much recently. However, they ultimately rediscovered their attacking stride exactly when they needed it, as they were facing elimination in Game 5 of the series. The Astros were able to save the series with a 9-5 win thanks to a lineup shuffle and a strong performance by a light-hitting catcher.
Dusty Baker, the manager of the Houston Astros, remarked, “Today felt like the World Series because they were able to walk on the field and see all of the crowds and all of the media.”
The Astros had had a difficult few days before to that. Not only was their scheduled exercise on Thursday evening postponed, but so was pregame on-field batting practise before Games 3 and 4 due to the chilly and wet circumstances. They hadn’t played in Atlanta since 2017. As a result, the Astros were only on the foreign field for the duration of the games itself.
It was offensive in nature. They scored just two runs in the first 18 innings of this game, losing 2-0 and 3-2, and generally having a miserable time. They were unable to capitalise on their opportunities. Including the games played in Houston, the Astros went 4 for 31 with runners in scoring position over this series’ first three games.
Baker, on the other hand, remained firm in his belief in miracles before Game 5, and it seemed as if his club may need one after leaving 17 runners on base in the first two games of their trip to the Atlanta Braves.
One statistic Baker brought up before Game 5 was the fact that the Chicago Cubs trailed the Cleveland Indians three games to one in the 2016 World Series before rallying to win the championship.
During a brief period of bright skies and dry weather on Sunday, Houston’s offence finally sprang to life. In order to prepare for Atlanta’s batting practise session, the Astros arranged some early work on the field for midafternoon. If it was just that, or whether the Astros’ batters are just too talented to be shut down for an extended period of time, things changed abruptly in the fifth inning of Game 5.
Houston rallied from a 4-0 deficit in the second inning when Yuli Gurriel drove in a run with a one-out single to centre, Kyle Tucker walked, and Alex Bregman, who had been struggling so poorly that Baker demoted him to the seventh spot in the order, hit an RBI double to right field. Tucker subsequently scored on a fly ball to centre field by catcher Martn Maldonado, who had thrown the ball.
Game 4 had ended with Bregman going 0 for 5, with two strikeouts and a failed attempt to get the ball out of the infield. However, even after his Game 5 double, he is only hitting.111 (2 for 18) in this World Series and has hit just.171 (7 for 41) since the start of the American League Championship Series. After Baker moved him from third to seventh in the order, Bregman was among the Astros who came out to bat on the field early on Sunday, according to the team’s official website.
Although scoring two runs immediately after Duvall had gotten the crowd to its feet didn’t balance the score, it invigorated the Houston dugout and gave them a boost.
