ATLANTA — When the ball left Braves center fielder Adam Duvall’s bat in the first inning, there was the familiar rising din of possibility that morphed into something else with the understanding that the ball was going to clear the right-field wall.
Joy, yes. But also celebration. As if the party hoped for later in the evening among the 43,000 strong at Truist Park had its start time pushed up. Duvall’s grand slam played in the moment like prime-aged Mike Tyson landing squarely on the jaw.
The opponent does not get up.
After all, the Braves had not lost at home this postseason. The 7-0 included victories in World Series Games 3 and 4. In Game 3, Atlanta nearly tagged-teamed a no-hitter. In Game 4, the Braves rallied late behind power and a bullpen that in October had become the most devastating force of the postseason.
So the Braves had momentum and a three-games-to-one lead in the 117th World Series and a quick four-run advantage Sunday night. This was the hours leading up to New Year’s. A countdown. The inevitable that midnight would come and the party would build to a crescendo all night until … euphoria.
But the ball did not drop to end this season because, finally, more balls dropped in the Astros’ favor. They came in hitting .206 for this series and were held to four runs in their three losses. Houston manager Dusty Baker did not have a lot of plays to make, so he did what he could. He dropped struggling third-place hitter Alex Bregman to seventh in the lineup and pledged this third baseman was “not a scapegoat” because so many Astros were not hitting.
Of course, a big at-bat found Bregman in the half inning after Duvall’s grand slam. With two on and one out, Bregman smashed an opposite-field, RBI double. That triggered Houston toward scoring nine of the next 10 runs scored in Game 5. It launched them toward a season-saving 9-5 triumph.
The series now shifts to Houston and away from Astros players hearing relentless chants of “Cheater, cheater” for those still around from the 2017 sign-stealing club. There are six offensive holdovers from that championship season and all of them contributed to save this season, to extend a year in which another title would at least someway validate the first one.
Bregman, Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, Yuli Gurriel, Martin Maldonado and Marwin Gonzlaez combined for 10 of Hosuton’s 12 hits and all nine of the RBIs. It was like the band was back together — though probably not a band most baseball fans wanted to see reunite.
The least heralded — Maldonado and Gonzalez — highlighted the key sequence in this game.
Houston tied the score 4-4 in the third, Freddie Freeman untied it in the bottom half with a homer and Atlanta carried a 5-4 edge into fifth. And the Braves were set up. A.J. Minter, central to the Brave pen rise, had not pitched in Game 4. Under the best plans, he would get the final out of the fourth (which he did by whiffing Correa) then give Atlanta the fifth and sixth before Braves manager unleashed Tyler Matzek, Luke Jackson and Will Smith for an inning each to close out the Braves’ first title in 26 years.
But with two out and two on, Snitker ordered Bregman walked to load the bases for Maldonado. Totally sound. The Astros catcher had four hits (none for extra bases) in 41 at-bats through his first 14 postseason games this year with one walk and 14 strikeouts. But Minter, who had no walks in his past five outings and 8 ²/₃ innings, walked Maldonado to force in the tying run.
Houston manager Dusty Baker summoned Gonzalez to pinch hit. He had been so bad this year that he was not even active for the first two rounds of playoffs. He had two previous at-bats in this World Series and one hit since Sept. 25. But he parachuted a two-run single to left to give Houston the lead for good. Maldonado, two RBIs this whole postseason previously, ended with three in this game.
The inevitably of the first inning had long faded by then. The Astros did not curl into a fetal position and accept the end of the season.
They reached into their recent past to stay alive and get the World Series to a Game 6 in their safe space in Houston.