A guy who spent most of the season in the minors kept the Braves in it. Then the offense finally came to life.Just like that, Atlanta is one win from its first World Series title in 26 years.Dansby Swanson and pinch-hitter Jorge Soler connected for back-to-back homers in the seventh inning Saturday night, propelling the Braves to a 3-2 victory over the Houston Astros and a commanding 3-1 Series lead.Game 5 is Sunday night. The Braves can wrap up the championship on their home field, just as they did two stadiums ago when they beat the Cleveland Indians in 1995.That triumph at the old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium remains the franchise's only World Series crown since moving to the Deep South in 1966.This is the closest they've been to a second title since then.A huge shoutout goes to a most unlikely hero.Former No. 1 draft pick Kyle Wright, who has largely been a huge disappointment in repeated chances with the Braves, turned in 4 2/3 gritty innings out of the bullpen after surprise starter Dylan Lee retired only one hitter.Wright was hardly overpowering, giving up five hits — including a homer by Jose Altuve in the fourth that staked the Astros to a 2-0 lead — and three walks. But he continually pitched out of trouble, giving the Braves a semblance of hope until the offense woke up.That finally occurred in the sixth when Eddie Rosario became the first Atlanta hitter to get past first base with a one-out double off Brooks Raley.Rosario wound up scoring on another clutch postseason hit by Austin Riley, who lined a two-out single to left against Phil Maton.The Braves left the bases loaded, but they weren't done. Just like that, they stunningly engineered the first lead change of the entire Series.Facing Cristian Javier, Swanson went the opposite way for a homer that tied the game at 2, the ball hit so hard that it ricocheted off the tabled section in the right-field stands and rolled all the way back to the infield.The celebration had barely simmered down when Soler stepped to the plate as a pinch-hitter. On a 2-1 pitch from Javier, he got hold of a hanging slider and drove it into the Astros' bullpen in left, Yordan Alvarez hanging helplessly over the fence as the ball sailed over his head.Luke Jackson worked a scoreless eighth, getting a great catch from Rosario slamming into the left-field wall that Soler homered over, and Will Smith worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his sixth save in six chances this postseason.The Astros could only kick themselves for squandering countless chances, going hitless in eight at-bats with runners in scoring position and leaving 11 on base overall.Houston got just what it wanted from 38-year-old starter Zack Greinke, who threw four scoreless innings.Greinke had last pitched in the World Series in 2019, when he was an 18-game winner acquired by the Astros in a trade-deadline deal.Two years later, Greinke is no longer one of baseball's most dominant pitchers. But he gave the Astros just what they needed in the bullpen era — four solid innings to leave with a 2-0 lead.The Braves' pitching was in a bit of disarray after Game 1 starter Charlie Morton was lost for the rest of the Series with a broken leg.With former President Donald Trump watching from a private box down the right-field line — he even joined fans for the tomahawk chop — Atlanta decided to go with a parade of relievers, starting with a guy who was released by Miami before the season and spent most of the year in Triple-A.Lee wasn't even told he would be starting until he got to the ballpark Saturday afternoon, in hopes that he wouldn't have too much time to get nervous.But he looked overwhelmed by the moment, retiring only one hitter before he was lifted with the bases loaded, having walked two and thrown just five of 15 pitches for strikes.It was the shortest Series start since 2003, when David Wells lasted only one inning for the Yankees in Game 5 before leaving with back spasms.Wright escaped the jam with only one run scoring on a groundout and made only one major mistake before his night was done.Altuve went deep with one out in the fourth, launching a 434-foot drive over the center-field wall. It was his 23rd homer in 77 postseason games, which pushed him to second place all alone on the career list behind Manny Ramirez with 29.Altuve had been tied with longtime New York Yankees star Bernie Williams.TRUMP'S CHOPOnly months after calling for a boycott of Major League Baseball, Trump chopped away with fans before the game while standing beside his wife, Melania.Trump said he was invited to the game by Commissioner Rob Manfred and New York Yankees President Randy Levine. Major League Baseball denied making the invitation, saying the former president asked to attend the game.Trump encouraged a boycott of MLB games after Manfred removed the All-Star Game from Atlanta over Georgia's new voting law. The game instead was held in Denver.Unlike the 2019 World Series in Washington, when Trump was booed while still in office, there was no obvious reception for the former president at Truist Park.His appearance was not announced to the crowd.LEE STARTSLee was one of the most unlikely starters in World Series history.The 27-year-old left-hander had never pitched in the big leagues until the final weekend of the regular season, when he was called up from Triple-A Gwinnett to make a couple of appearances after the Braves had already locked up the NL East title.He had been released by the Miami Marlins at the end of spring training and signed a minor league deal with the Braves.Lee didn't last long in Game 4, but he will forever be known as a World Series starter.UP NEXTGame 1 loser Framber Valdez gets his second start of the Series for the Astros. The left-hander lasted only two innings last Tuesday, giving up eight hits, five runs and two homers in a 6-2 setback.The Braves will counter with their second consecutive bullpen game. No word on who will be the opener in a start that would've gone to Morton if not for a broken leg that ended his season in Game 1.

Source link

Eddie Rosario capped a remarkable NL Championship Series with a three-run homer, sending the Atlanta Braves to the World Series for the first time since 1999 with a 4-2 victory over the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday night.The Braves won the best-of-seven series four games to two, exorcising the demons of last year's NLCS — when Atlanta squandered 2-0 and 3-1 leads against the Dodgers — and advancing to face the AL champion Astros.Game 1 is Tuesday night at Minute Maid Park in Houston.The Braves will be going for their first Series title since 1995, when they beat Cleveland with a team that included Hall of Famers Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Jon Smoltz and Chipper Jones — a no-nonsense group that became better known for numerous postseason flops during a momentous run of 14 straight division titles.This flashy team is led by a far more unlikely hero.Rosario, acquired in a flush of deals just before the July 30 trade deadline that rebuilt the Braves' depleted outfield, set an Atlanta franchise record and became only the fifth player in baseball history to record 14 hits in a postseason series.Will Smith worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his fourth save of the postseason after a brilliant relief stint by winner Tyler Matzek, who escaped a huge jam in the seventh by striking out the side. The left-hander has 11 strikeouts with runners in scoring position in the seventh inning or later this postseason.Spurred on by chants of “Eddie! Eddie! Eddie” from the raucous sellout crowd of more than 43,000, Rosario finished 14 of 25 (.560) against the Dodgers, with three homers and nine RBIs.His final hit was certainly the biggest of the 30-year-old Puerto Rican's career.With the score tied at 1 in the bottom of the fourth, Rosario came up after pinch-hitter Ehire Adrianza extended the inning with a two-out double into the right-field corner. Slow-running catcher Travis d'Arnaud was held at third by coach Ron Washington, surely aware of who was up next.Rosario got into an extended duel with Walker Buehler, who stepped up to start on three days' rest after ace Max Scherzer wasn't able to go because of a tired arm.Rosario swung and missed the first two pitches. Then he fouled one off. Then he took a ball. Then he fouled off two more pitches.Finally, he got one he liked from the Dodgers' 16-game winner — a cutter that Rosario turned into a 105 mph rocket down the right-field line, higher and higher, straight as an arrow until it landed well back into the seats below the Chop House restaurant.Rosario knew it was gone, dancing down the line after delivering a 361-foot finishing shot to a highly paid team that won 106 games during the regular season — 18 more than the NL East-winning Braves — but came up short in its bid to become baseball's first repeat champion since the 2000 New York Yankees won their third straight title.The Braves will be looking to bury their city's reputation for playoff misery. From four World Series losses in the 1990s to the NFL Falcons blowing a 28-3 lead in the 2017 Super Bowl, Atlanta again finds itself on cusp of an extremely rare feat.A championship.Those ‘95 Braves remain the city's lone team in the four major sports — baseball, football, basketball and hockey — to capture a title. Freddie Freeman said after a Game 5 loss that the city's history would remain an issue “until we kill that narrative.”They're four wins from doing just that.After starter Ian Anderson allowed Cody Bellinger's run-scoring single in the fourth on his next-to-last hitter of the night, the well-rested Atlanta bullpen took over.A.J. Minter struck out four in two innings of work. Luke Jackson failed to get an out in the seventh, giving up AJ Pollock's run-scoring double, but Matzek stranded runners at second and third with three straight strikeouts — the last of them by Mookie Betts on three pitches.Matzek returned to the mound for a 1-2-3 eighth before handing off to Smith.The Braves jumped ahead with back-to-back, two-out doubles off Buehler in the first — the second of them by Austin Riley, whose shot down the left-field line one-hopped into the Dodgers bullpen.With their pitching staff in disarray, the Dodgers scuttled plans to start Scherzer. The right-hander had complained of a dead arm after Game 2, and he was still struggling to bounce back after a workout Friday.Buehler, who had been projected to go in Game 7 if the series went that far, was bumped up to start for Scherzer on just three days' rest.Scherzer, the Dodgers insisted, would be ready to go Sunday night.Now, he's got all winter to rest up.TRAINER'S ROOMThe Dodgers brought an extra pitcher to Atlanta after LHP Justin Bruihl felt something in his arm while warming up for Game 5. But Bruihl remained on the roster after assuring manager Dave Roberts he felt good enough to take an inning in Game 6. As it turned out, he wasn't needed.UP NEXTDodgers: After a steak of seven straight victories in elimination games was snapped, they won't play another game that counts until the 2022 season opener against the Colorado Rockies. That comes on March 31 at Dodger Stadium.Braves: Charlie Morton is set to go against his former team in the opener of the World Series. He memorably came out of the bullpen in Game 7 of the 2017 Series to pitch four innings of two-hit ball, closing out the lone title in Astros history with a 5-1 win over the Dodgers.

Source link