Astros bounced back from a first-inning grand slam clubbed by Atlanta’s Adam Duvall, sends world series to Houston.
The Astros bounced back from a first-inning grand slam clubbed by Atlanta’s Adam Duvall, defeating the Braves 9-5 on Sunday and sending the World Series back to Houston for Game 6 on Tuesday. Atlanta still maintains a 3-2 series lead.
To hear Houston manager Dusty Baker tell it, the Astros’ motivation was pretty simple.
“We didn’t want to end here with the celebration here,” Baker said.
Duvall’s slam put a charge into the standing-room-only throng at Truist Park, eager to see the Braves clinch their first title since 1995 and the first since the club moved into its five-year-old park in suburban Cobb County.
At that point, history was not on Houston’s side. The Braves became the first team to score four runs in a potential World Series clincher since the 1961 Yankees, who went on to cruise to a 13-5 win over the Reds to win the title 60 years ago.
On top of that, teams were 45-3 all time when holding a lead of four or more runs at any point of a potential clincher, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
Make it 45-4. And Baker, whose 2002 Giants were the last team to blow a lead that big in a World Series clinching scenario, felt like if it had to happen and it’s good that it happened with plenty of game left.
“I always say, ‘if it’s going to happen, let it happen early,'” Baker said. “You don’t want it to happen in the middle of the game or toward the end of the game. The guys came through. That’s what counts.”
