Astros Strong

by Houston Chronicle

  Disaster loomed.

  Brian McCann chases Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes during Game 4 of the World Series. McCann continued his quiet postseason with no hits and two strikeouts. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle)

  Gurriel Suspended for Racially Insensitive Gesture

  Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred announced Saturday a five-game suspension for Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel as a result of the racially insensitive gesture Gurriel made during Game 3 of the World Series on Friday night at Minute Maid Park.

  The suspension will be effective at the start of the 2018 regular season, which will allow Gurriel to play in the rest of the World Series. Gurriel will not be paid his salary during his suspension, the sum of which the Astros said they will donate to charity. MLB said Gurriel must undergo sensitivity training in the offseason.

  Gurriel, 33, made the gesture, caught by television cameras, after hitting a home run off Dodgers starter Yu Darvish in the second inning of the Astros’ Game 3 win. After taking a seat on the dugout bench, Gurriel used his fingers to act as if he was slanting his eyes and also appeared to say the Spanish word “Chinito,” which translates to “little Chinese boy.” Darvish is from Japan.

  At a pregame news conference, Manfred laid out his reasoning for delaying Gurriel’s suspension until next season as opposed to having him serve a suspension immediately.

  “First of all, I felt it was important that the suspension carried with it the penalty of lost salary,” Manfred said. “Secondly, I felt it was unfair to punish the other 24 players on the Astros’ roster. I wanted the burden of this discipline to fall primarily on the wrongdoer.

  “Third, I was impressed in my conversation with Yu Darvish by his desire to move forward, and I felt that moving this suspension to the beginning of the season would help in that regard. Last, when I originally began thinking about the discipline, I thought that delaying the suspension would allow the player the opportunity to exercise his rights under the grievance procedure.”

  Gurriel will not appeal the suspension. The Cuban started at first base and batted fifth for the Astros in Game 4 on Saturday night. Manfred met with Gurriel before Saturday’s game. Gurriel expressed remorse, according to Manfred, and assured the commissioner he will offer a private apology to Darvish.

  “During last night’s game, I made an offensive gesture that was indefensible,” Gurriel said in a prepared statement released by the Astros. “I sincerely apologize to everyone that I offended with my actions. I deeply regret it. I would particularly like to apologize to Yu Darvish, a pitcher that I admire and respect. I would also like to apologize to the Dodgers organization, the Astros, Major League Baseball and to all fans across the game.”

  Relentless

  Bregman Ends Back-and-Forth Classic with 10th-Inning Single off Jansen

  By Jake Kaplan

  World Series Game 5

  October 29, 2017 • Houston, Texas

  Astros 13, Dodgers 12 (10 innings)

  The epic Game 2 of this World Series has nothing on the all-timer that was Game 5.

  In a back-and-forth battle between two heavyweights, the Astros overcame three deficits and countless momentum swings to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers 13-12 in 10 innings on Sunday night. The final Minute Maid Park crowd of the season was treated to a game that was all sorts of crazy and ultimately left the American League champions one win away from their first championship.

  Game 6 is Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium. It will be nearly impossible for it to top its predecessor. In a five-hour, 17-minute marathon that required a 10th inning before Alex Bregman delivered a walk off single against Kenley Jansen, the Astros slugged five home runs, three of which tied the game, and the Dodgers hit two, one that put them ahead.

  Fourteen pitchers combined to throw 417 pitches. Neither ace, the Astros’ Dallas Keuchel or the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw, completed even five innings. Four of the top five batters in the Astros’ lineup homered. The mess that is the Astros’ bullpen led manager A.J. Hinch to deploy Brad Peacock for 39 pitches after he threw 53 two nights earlier.

  No lead was safe, not even after the Astros’ four-run barrage in the seventh inning off Dodgers reliever Brandon Morrow. Or after Brian McCann tagged Tony Cingrani for a solo home run in the eighth to put the Astros ahead 12-9.

  The thriller marked only the second game in World Series history in which both teams scored 12 runs or more, joining Game 4 of the 1993 Fall Classic, a 15-14 Toronto win over Philadelphia. The home runs brought the series total to 22, already a record for a World Series.

  As far as longest World Series games go, Sunday’s ranks second to only the 14-inning Game 3 of the 2005 series between the Astros and White Sox, also played at Minute Maid Park.

  “When you feel like you came through for your team and you see the joy on their faces, there’s nothing like it,” Bregman said. “It’s such a special feeling that I’m so fortunate and blessed to feel today. It’s an unbelievable moment. You dream about it as a little kid. To be living a dream, one win away from the World Series, is really special.”

  Bregman and the Astros finished the instant-classic Game 5 with a two-out rally against the best closer in baseball. It began when Jansen hit McCann on the right wrist with a two-strike cutter. George Springer followed by drawing a walk, at which point Hinch pinch-ran Derek Fisher for the slow-footed McCann at second base.

  Bregman didn’t waste any time in playing hero. He offered at a first-pitch cutter and sent it to left field, scoring the speedy Fisher. The home dugout emptied before Fisher had even crossed home plate.

  Alex Bregman hits a walk off single to score pinch runner Derek Fisher to give the Astros a thrilling 13-12 win over the Dodgers. (Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle)

  “That guy is something, man,” Springer said of Bregman. “He lives for stuff like this. He loves it. I watched him dig in the box that last at-bat a little bit harder. You could just see it in his body that he wanted this game to end and he was going to be the guy to do it.”

  The offense produced in the game was almost too much too track. Jose Altuve, responsible for the second of the Astros’ three game-tying home runs, drove in four runs. Carlos Correa and Yuli Gurriel each drove in three, the latter on a blast off Kershaw that tied the game in the fourth inning.

  Kershaw, the greatest pitcher on the planet, blew a 4-0 lead for the Dodgers. That alone would have been unpredictable enough to make for an epic game. By the time the final out was recorded, it was a distant memory.

  It was fitting the Astros’ Core Four players fueled the decisive four-run seventh. Springer sparked the barrage when he crushed a first-pitch fastball from Morrow over the train tracks to tie the game at 8.

  Bregman ensured the rally didn’t stop there. He, too, offered at the first pitch, a slider, and laced a single to center field. Altuve drove in the go-ahead run with a double to left-center field. Correa followed with a towering fly ball that hung in the air for seemingly forever before landing in one of the first couple rows of the Crawford Boxes.

  Correa’s two-run homer, which traveled only an estimated 328 feet, put the Astros ahead 11-8. Morrow, who has pitched in every game of the series, threw only six pitches. He allowed four runs.

  After McCann’s homer off Cingrani in the ninth put the Astros ahead 12-9, Chris Devenski failed to hold the lead. He issued a leadoff walk to Cody Bellinger before serving up a two-run homer to Yasiel Puig. An Austin Barnes double put the tying run in scoring position. With two outs, Chris Taylor plated him on a single up the middle.

  Joe Musgrove pitched a scoreless 10th to set the stage for the Astros’ rally. The 24-year-old righthander would have pitched the 11th, too. Of the eight members of the Astros’ bullpen, only the beleaguered Ken Giles and Francisco Liriano didn’t pitch in Game 5.

  “Dude, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said this is the craziest game o
f my life,” Musgrove said. “I mean, again tonight, this is the craziest game of my life.”

  The Dodgers went ahead 8-7 in the top of the seventh on a line drive off the bat of Bellinger. Springer, the Astros’ All-Star center fielder, charged inward as Kiké Hernandez hedged between first and second base.

  Springer miscalculated. Rather than playing for the single and holding Bellinger to the single, he dived. The ball bounced in front of his glove and hopped over it and toward the wall. Hernandez scored easily to give Los Angeles a one-run lead. Bellinger stopped at third.

  The sequence came moments after the Astros cut down a potential Dodgers threat. Peacock, deployed despite logging 3 2/3 innings two nights earlier, cut down Justin Turner at third base on a poor sacrifice bunt attempt by Hernandez. Turner reached second on a leadoff double that fell mere inches shy of clearing the fence in right-center field.

  In the bottom half of the frame, Springer redeemed himself.

  “That’s about as low to about as high as you could probably feel at the time,” he said. “I made a bad decision. I tried to make a play, but ultimately, I should’ve stopped. But then to come out and to tie it, that’s a feeling that I don’t think I can ever describe to anybody.”

  Although they made for a pitchers’ duel in Game 1, neither Keuchel nor Kershaw held up his end of the bargain in Game 5.

  Keuchel completed only 3 2/3 innings and allowed three earned runs. Kershaw finished just 4 2/3 and was charged with six earned runs.

  Both watched most of the game from the dugout.

  Derek Fisher slides home for the winning run in one of the most memorable games in World Series history. Fisher came on as a pinch runner for Brian McCann, who was hit by a pitch to start the rally. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle)

  “Honestly, it felt like I didn’t even pitch,” Keuchel said. “And, I mean, I didn’t pitch that long. I’ve never been so nervous in my life. The bubble gut feeling, the highs, the lows. I’m glad that us pitchers are with the No. 1 offense and they provided a good show.”

  The game began in just about the worst fashion possible for the Astros. Nothing went right. Keuchel allowed a leadoff single to Taylor and issued back-to-back walks to Turner and Hernandez. He hung a two-out slider to Logan Forsythe that scored Taylor easily. Marwin Gonzalez booted a ball in left to ensure Turner also scored.

  With Puig at the plate, Keuchel picked off Forsythe, his teammate at the University of Arkansas. As Forsythe ran to second base, Gurriel made a high throw from first base that pulled Altuve off the second-base bag. Hernandez took off for home. In a close play at the base, Forsythe was safe. The Dodgers led 3-0 before Kershaw even took the mound.

  The Astros’ deficit reached four when Barnes smacked a run-scoring single off Keuchel with two outs in the fourth. In the first of many stunning twists, it proved fleeting.

  Kershaw, who had faced the minimum through three, folded in the fourth. Springer led off with a walk. Altuve singled. Correa whacked a run-scoring double. Then came the big blow. The always-aggressive Gurriel capitalized on a first-pitch hanging slider and tied the game with a three-run shot to left field.

  Collin McHugh came on at the start of the fifth for his first appearance since Game 3 of the AL Championship Series. It didn’t take more than a few pitches to see he didn’t have it. McHugh walked Seager and Turner before giving up a three-run homer to Bellinger.

  The bottom of the fifth proved just as nutty, though. With two outs and the bases empty, Springer drew a walk against Kershaw. Bregman followed suit, grinding out an epic 10-pitch plate appearance that won’t soon be forgotten. It chased Kershaw from the game and set up the biggest swing of the Astros’ season to that point.

  The first man out of the Dodgers’ bullpen was Kenta Maeda, who pitched 2 2/3 innings of scoreless ball in Friday’s Game 3. He was tasked with facing Altuve, the toughest out in the Astros’ lineup and one of the toughest in baseball. The AL MVP candidate worked the count full.

  On the first full-count pitch he saw from Maeda, Altuve ripped a foul ball with home-run distance down the left-field line. On the next, he didn’t miss. It traveled an estimated 415 feet out to center field and tied the game.

  The emotional swing would be far from the game’s last.

  “Just when I thought I could describe Game 2 as my favorite game of all time,” Hinch said, “I think Game 5 exceeded that and more.”

  L.A. Tie-Up

  Astros Can’t Get Their Traffic Home as Dodgers Beat Verlander, Force Game 7

  By Jake Kaplan

  World Series Game 6

  October 31, 2017 • Los Angeles, California

  Dodgers 3, Astros 1

  After 179 games, the last 17 covering the three rounds of the postseason, the Astros’ season will come down to one game.

  The Astros lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-1 on Tuesday night to set up a winner-take-all Game 7 of the World Series on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium. Lance McCullers Jr. will start on regular four days’ rest for the Astros opposite the Dodgers’ Yu Darvish. But in reality, it will be all hands on deck for both teams.

  This is the second consecutive season and the fourth time in seven years the World Series has required seven games to decide a winner. It will be the first Game 7 between 100-win teams since 1931, when the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Athletics. The 2017 season’s final night will bookend what has been an all-time great Fall Classic.

  “It’s great baseball,” Astros ace Justin Verlander said. “It’s fun to be a part of. I wish we could’ve won (Tuesday night). But I’ve been a part of two of the best games I’ve ever played in, and they’ve both been in the World Series. That’s pretty special. No matter what, this Series is going down in the history books as one of the best Series of all time.

  “I think (Wednesday) is going to be nothing short of spectacular either way. I hope we blow them out. But just the way these things have been going, I don’t see that being the case. It’s going to be a battle. I think it’s all hands on deck for both sides.

  “When you have a great team with their back against the wall, and both of ours are, it’s hard to beat them. And I think that’s what makes Game 7 so special, especially in the World Series.”

  Although McCullers and Darvish will start, Wednesday night could see any pitcher on either staff pitch in relief, including the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw and the Astros’ Dallas Keuchel. Maybe even Verlander, who threw 93 pitches in six innings Tuesday.

  “We’ll evaluate everything,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said when asked about Verlander’s availability. “It would take a big effort, but you never know.”

  The Astros, who used only Joe Musgrove, Luke Gregerson and Francisco Liriano behind Verlander on Tuesday, will certainly have Charlie Morton and Brad Peacock as early options if McCullers falters early.

  The Dodgers got through Tuesday without using Kershaw or Alex Wood. They extended closer Kenley Jansen into another two-inning outing but were fortunate in that he used only 19 pitches. They also again used relievers Brandon Morrow and Kenta Maeda, though.

  “I don’t ever think you practice as a kid for playing in three, four, five games in the World Series. It’s always Game 7,” Astros center fielder George Springer said. “And I know we lost (Game 6), but this is awesome to have a chance to come out here again. We’ll see what happens.”

  To take down the Dodgers, the Astros will have to conjure the timely hits that eluded them in defeat Tuesday, when they were hitless in six at-bats with runners in scoring position against lefthander Rich Hill and four L.A. relievers.

  “We knew going into this series it was going to be an absolute dogfight, a battle, and we’re ready to meet them toe to toe again (Wednesday),” Astros third baseman Alex Bregman said.

  Their Game 6 defeat marked the Astros’ first in the 11 appearances (10 starts) Verlander has made for them since he wa
s acquired in an Aug. 31 trade. Verlander was nearly unhittable for the first five innings but was undone by a hit by pitch and two timely Dodgers hits in the sixth.

  Chris Taylor tied the score at 1 in the sixth with a well-placed double off Verlander before Corey Seager put the Dodgers ahead with a sacrifice fly. Musgrove was first out of the beleaguered Astros bullpen. He allowed a Dodgers insurance run on a solo homer by Joc Pederson.

  Jansen, the losing pitcher in the Astros’ epic Game 5 walk off win Sunday night, shut them down in the eighth and ninth innings Tuesday.

  Springer staked the Astros to a 1-0 lead when with two outs in the third inning he powered a Hill fastball the opposite way over the right-field fence. His fourth home run of the World Series matched a feat accomplished only 11 times previously, most recently by now-Dodger Chase Utley, who homered five times for the Phillies in 2009.

  Since his 0-for-4, four-strikeout night in Game 1, Springer has homered in all but one game. All four have tied a game or put the Astros ahead. Since last season, Hinch has fielded questions as to why he leads off with probably his best power hitter. Springer’s ability to spark a lineup like he did against the Dodgers is why.

  The Dodgers’ bullpen first stirred in the fifth inning. After Brian McCann led off with a single, Marwin Gonzalez moved him to third on a double down the left-field line. Hill struck out Josh Reddick and Verlander, at which point Dodgers manager Dave Roberts faced a difficult question: Should he let Hill face the top of the Astros’ lineup a third time or turn to an overworked bullpen?

  Roberts didn’t deviate from the Dodgers’ plan from Hill’s previous postseason starts. After intentionally walking Springer to load the bases for Bregman, the Los Angeles manager walked to the mound to meet with Hill. When he took the ball from his starter, Roberts drew boos from the crowd. He called on Morrow to pitch for the sixth time in as many games.