Thursday, October 26, 2017

Astros Outlast LAD In Classic World Series Game Two

Hopefully, you stayed up to see the entire 11 inning, 4 hour and 19 minute epic. For this Game Two of the 2017 World Series, all the kvetching about the troubles in baseball went right out the window. This one was a classic. The 7-6 victory for the Astros (their first World Series win in franchise history) came with a combined total of eight HRs—five of them in extra innings (both World Series records). Just when it seemed that Houston was about to head home down two-games-to-none, they put single runs on the board in the eighth and ninth—the latter on a clutch solo shot by Marwin Gonzalez that knotted the game at three (off arguably the best closer in baseball). Then the tenth. Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa each slammed solo HRs to give Houston a seemingly insurmountable 5-3 edge. Wrong, Larry King breath! The Astros "elite" closer blew that lead and tied things at five entering the 11th inning. More HRs perhaps? Yes, this time UConn alum George Springer (who grew up a Red Sox fan in The Nutmeg State) launched an opposite-field two-run blast to make it 7-5. More drama, you ask? Indeed. Charlie Culberson (who?) hit another solo shot to make the final, 7-6. A true classic. The 'Stros now head back to Houston having seized back home-field advantage in the now best-three-out-of-five 113th Fall Classic. (Getty Images)