The Houston Astros have, once again, kept their dreams of becoming the World Series champions alive after beating the Atlanta Braves 9-5 on Sunday.
The Braves would have achieved the title with a victory in front of their home fans; however, a new batting order from the Astros caught them off guard and lost them their series-winning victory.
Astros manager Dusty Baker decided to switch things up paid off as shortstop Carlos Correa, bumped up to third in the batting order, came through with three hits and a pair of RBIs. And Yuli Gurriel, who moved up to fifth after hitting seventh in Game 4, had three hits of his own and scored two runs.
“We don’t worry about what other people say or what they think. It’s what you think of yourself and what you think of each other on the team that really counts,” Baker said. “These guys are together, they’ve been through many of these battles and so they don’t know how to quit and they are always looking for an edge or an opening. Fortunately, tonight we took advantage of some.”
The Braves, seeking their first championship since 1995, opened the scoring in explosive fashion with Adam Duvall hitting a grand slam in the first inning; however, the Astros quietly chipped away, ultimately drawing even at 4-4 after a Gurriel groundout in the top of the 3rd.
The Astros then added an insurance run in the seventh with catcher Martin Maldonado‘s third RBI of the night, and one more in the eighth with Correa’s single which plated second baseman Jose Altuve.
“You always love to do it here. I’ll take it anywhere,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “I don’t care where we’re at. If we win the World Series, it doesn’t matter where it is. I’d have loved to have done it in front of our fans. Hopefully, we can do it the next couple of days.”
With game six on their home stadium, the Astros will try to become the 15th team in MLB history to beat a 3-1 deficit and still win the best-of-seven postseason series.
