World Series Game 2: Atlanta Braves v Houston Astros – live! | Sport

Braves 2-5 Astros, Bottom 5th

Fried and Bregman face each other once again. The announcers note that, despite his key role in getting the Astros’ rally going earlier in this game, he’s still yet to get a hit in this World Series. Well, Fried ups the difficult level here by putting him into a 1-2 hole.

And, wow, there’s another Fried strikeout. We told you this game would be more entertaining than Tuesday’s.

Braves 2-5 Astros, Bottom 5th

Fried is facing Brantley. Hey, impressive that Fried is still in this game after that second inning and it’s doubly impressive that he picks up his fifth strikeout of the game and a key one too here.

Braves 2-5 Astros, Bottom 5th

Jose Altuve grounds out to start the bottom of the fifth.

Email from Iain Macdonald:

Subject: Moral Dilemma

As a fan of the best team in baseball, namely the 107-win Giants, I’ve had a tough time deciding which team I despise the most, the Cheaters or the Choppers.

However, your news that the odious Trump intends to ooze his way into Atlanta (with Herschel in tow?) has changed all that.

Go Astros! Go Dusty!

p.s. Of course, Drumpf would doubtless get an equally rapturous reception in Texas, so I’m back to wishing that both teams could lose.

Again: I don’t have an answer here. The best I have is that I love Astros manager Dusty Baker, but, of course, the Astros explicitly hired Baker in order to get some positive P.R. after the cheating scandal. There’s no ethical consumption in this World Series, it seems.

Braves 2-5 Astros, Top 5^th

Some rumblings in the Houston bullpen, but Urquidy isn’t rattled by Freeman’s RBI as he gets Albies to ground out on a single pitch. He’ll probably be out there for the sixth, albeit on a short leash.

Braves 2-5 Astros, Top 5th

Freeman hits a single! The Braves have made this a three-run game, and we have a long way to go here!

Braves 1-5 Astros, Top 5th

Eddie Rosario, who is 0-and-2 and was charged with a key error, is now up here trying to do anything against Urquidy. You’ll never believe it, but Urquidy gets ahead of him rather quickly, putting him in a 1-2 hole but when he tries to waste a pitch offside, the ball bounces away from the catcher for a passed ball. Now there’s a runner in scoring position for Atlanta.

Rosario grounds out, advancing d’Arnaud to third but he can’t score on an out here. Urquidy just has to focus on getting Freeman out here to get out of this clean.

Braves 1-5 Astros, Top 5th

Now comes the delightfully named Dansby Swanson, Suitor In A Forgotten Jane Austen Novel, who falls into a 0-2 count against Urquidy. Again: that’s the key to this game’s pace, the more pitches thrown out of the zone, the longer these at-bats go. Instead, we’re getting lots of at-bats like this one: Swanson is out on three straight pitches.

Braves 1-5 Astros, Top 5th

Okay this game is now going at a little too brisk of a pace. I’m all for that, I’m not getting paid hourly here, but that’s never how baseball goes. I’m going to assume this is the point where the Braves put together something.

If they do, it will start with Travis d’Arnaud, who in fact hits a leadoff single the very second I type his name.

Braves 1-5 Astros, Bottom 4th

Maldonado is up next, but he’s doomed to become Fried’s fourth strikeout victim. He’s clearly adjusted after his disastrous second inning, but the question now is whether or not the Braves can cut into the Houston lead.

Braves 1-5 Astros, Bottom 4th

Jose Siri is back out there and a bit overeager as he swings and misses at Fried’s first two offerings. Down in a 0-2 count, he fouls tNe next pitch off to stay alive. Fried’s next pitch: a bit inside, Siri lays off of it. Not so much the next pitch, however, as Siri strikes out.

Braves 1-5 Astros, Bottom 4th

Max Fried is back out there, we’ll see how long he lasts. Gurriel would rather knock him out right here, one imagines, and he gets ahead of him in the count. 2-1. However, Fried manages to jam him and he harmlessly flies out to left.

Braves 1-5 Astros, Top 4th

I turn my head for a second and I completely miss Duvall’s brief at-bat as he flies out to end the inning. Another 1-2-3 inning for Urquidy.

Braves 1-5 Astros, Top 4th

It’s Joc Pederson, he of pearl necklace fame, and he falls into a 0-2 hole. So, Pederson immediately is in a foul-and-stay-alive position here. He stays alive for exactly three more pitches, and on that third he swings and misses. That’s six k’s for the Astros’ starter.

Braves 1-5 Astros, Top 4th

Hey, we’re in the top of the fourth and both starters are still in the game! I say that this game is already an improvement. Urquidy is facing Jorge Soler to start off this frame, and he actually falls behind here 2-1. That’s been pretty rare for him this game. No worries, he then gets Soler to swing and miss on pitches four and five. That’s out number one of the inning.

Braves 1-5 Astros, Bottom 3rd

Fried gets Correa to ground out quickly and then Tucker pops up. That inning was definitely a very different beast than the previous one. That’s three in the books, with at least six more to go.

Braves 1-5 Astros, Bottom 3rd

Fried is back out there for the bottom of the third. Let’s see how much length he can give Atlanta. Yordan Alvarez is back up there for the Astros. One imagines that they’re not satisfied with the five-run spot they’ve already put up. Fried gets him in a 0-2 hole to start out, eventually completing the strikeout on an unchecked swing.

I may have just screamed “the wrong Avenger died!” at the ad for the upcoming “Hawkeye” show on Disney Plus.

Braves 1-5 Astros, Top 3rd

Austin Riley flies out and that was beautiful: a 1-2-3 inning. Those are going to be rarities this series, it seems.

Braves 1-5 Astros, Top 3rd

Urquidy has a four-run lead, which I’m sure he’s happy about. He quickly gets Freeman to ground out to second and Albies to ground to short.

Braves 1-5 Astros, Bottom 2nd

Finally, Bregman grounds out to end that endless inning but Atlanta is in a heck of an early hole.

Braves 1-5 Astros, Bottom 2nd

Fried gets ahead of Brantley 1-2. It’s just about limiting damage right here for the starter, who probably isn’t long for the game. (No I’m not looking forward to another bullpen-heavy game either, but it is what it is). Brantley takes a semi-close pitch for a called ball. Solid batting eye there. On 2-2, Brantley knocks in Maldonado!

The damage is not limited.

Braves 1-4 Astros, Bottom 2nd

Rosario is given a throwing error for not getting an out on that play. Meanwhile, Houston has already turned their lineup around here and it’s still just one out in the bottom of the second.

Oof, and a wild pitch puts Maldonado on third. The Astros’ aggressiveness on the bases is paying off here, they’re pressuring the Braves into making errors. And they are. However, the Braves get lucky here as Altuve’s liner doesn’t hang up long enough to score the runner for third. So it’s now two down for Michael Brantley.

Braves 1-4 Astros, Bottom 2nd

Martin Maldonado is up with a chance to keep the line moving. He takes a ball, swings and misses, and then knocks in two more runners and the Astros are trying to do to the Braves what they did to them yesterday.

Braves 1-2 Astros, Bottom 2nd

Siri, get me an RBI! He his what looks like will be a run-scoring fielder’s choice but he manages to run it out. It’s an infield single and runners are now on first and second with still just one down.

Braves 1-1 Astros, Bottom 2nd

Yuli Gurriel is up next and he’s immediately down 0-2 in the count. It doesn’t matter for the slugger, as he hits a laser through the Braves’ defensive shift that puts runners on first-and-third with still just one out.

Braves 1-1 Astros, Bottom 2nd

Kyle Tucker is up next and he actually gets ahead of Fried 2-1, it’s a hitter’s count and that’s what he does here: hit. Tucker singles and that’s one on, one out for Houston.

Braves 1-1 Astros, Bottom 2nd

Carlos Correa is hitting for Houston, facing Fried, but only for a short while as he strikes out swinging to start the bottom of the second.

Braves 1-1 Astros, Top 2nd

Dansby Swanson hits a single but luckily for Houston, Rosario hits a liner to first to end the inning. Still, we’re tied-up already. Something tells me that this is not going to be the last home run of the game.

Braves 1-1 Astros, Top 2nd

Urquidy gets ahead of Travis d’Arnaud 0-2 but, the eighth-hitting catcher works a full count and then ties up the whole thing with one home run swing. Tied game! Maybe this isn’t going quickly after all.

Braves 0-1 Astros, Top 2nd

Adam Duvall promptly lines out. Well this is going rather quickly so far.

Braves 0-1 Astros, Top 2nd

Joc Pederson—who wears a pearl necklace for reasons that have yet to be fully explained—is up next. He quickly becomes Urquidy’s fourth strikeout victim.

Braves 0-1 Astros, Bottom 1st

Two down, bases newly empty for Yordan Alvarez who takes two balls and then grounds out.

Braves 0-1 Astros, Bottom 1st

Alex Bregman, who needs to start producing if the Astros are going to win this series, is up next and he actually does some nifty situational hitting to drive in Altuve with a long lazy fly. The Astros have a lead!

Braves 0-0 Astros, Bottom 1st

Michael Brantley hits a long flyball out that certainly looks like multiple bases off the bat. Nope. Still, it gets Altuve to third and there is only one out. Houston has a perfect situation here to take the first lead of the World Series.

Braves 0-0 Astros, Bottom 1st

Max Fried, whose last name is not pronounced as the adjective (alas), is up against Jose Altuve who hits a ringing double that gets everyone at Minute Maid excited.

Email from Kurt Perleberg:

Who will win the most medals in next February’s Beijing Winter Olympics?

Maybe I should have been a tad more specific here: please send in your baseball-related questions for today’s World Series liveblog.

Braves 0-0 Astros, Top 1st

It’s okay, he manages to get Jorge Soler to strike out. That’s three strikeouts, two infield hits, no runs allowed. Not a bad start.

Braves 0-0 Astros, Top 1st

Austin Riley falls behind 0-2 an then makes weak contact that somehow ends up a base hit as he aims it where the fielder’s aren’t. Urquidy is making great pitches, he’s just getting unlucky here. The Braves now have two, two-out baserunners.

Braves 0-0 Astros, top 1st

Ozzie Albies is up net to try to get anything going against Urquidy. He falls behind, but somehow manages to get on first on a slowly-hit, swinging bunt. So we have our first Braves baserunner.

Braves 0-0 Astros, top 1st

Freddie Freeman, the alliterative wonder, is up next. He works a full count, but eventually he also strikes out. A better start for Houston pitching than yesterday.

Braves 0-0 Astros, top 1st

Jose Urquidy’s first pitch is swung at by Rosario, who also swings at pitch 2. So, the Braves leadoff man is already down 0-2 against Urquidy. He manages to foul off a few more offerings before striking out.

The roof is open at Minute Maid Park, because the Astros generally perform better out in the open air. They’re looking for every edge they can get to even out this series.

Ooh, the actual game is about to start now!

National anthem

Alright, I missed the name of today’s singer by not switching to the pregame fast enough but she gives a fantastic rendition. 9/10.

Speaking of the Tomahawk Chop, our ex-president has never stumbled upon a cultural war he didn’t want to exploit so this is not shocking:

The Tomahawk Chop Controversy

If you were expecting the league or networks to de-emphasize the Tomahawk Chop went the series shifts to Atlanta well… MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred seems very intent on preserving it. It seems like an odd decision until you realize that Manfred being in favor of anything that makes games potentially more unwatchable is very much on track for him.

Predictions

Listen, nothing about this series suggests that it won’t expand to take up as much time as possible. If you combine that with the fact that if the Braves win today they will start this series with a 2-0 lead before heading back home with a chance to clinch…

If that happens, it becomes increasingly doubtful that this series will go much beyond the minimum. So, I am saying that the Astros win today in an actually somewhat dramatic fashion. Maybe a 6-7 win with the two teams pinballing back and forth until the final inning. I’m ready for a white-knuckle save, at least. This one is going at least six games, I think.

Maybe this is wishful thinking. If you have your own opinion, feel free to chime in. As mentioned earlier, you can either email Hunter.Felt.Freelance@theguardian.com or tweet @HunterFelt.

Houston Astros starting lineup

1. Jose Altuve, 2B

2. Michael Brantley, LF

3. Alex Bregman, 3B

4. Yordan Alvarez, DH

5. Carlos Correa, SS

6. Kyle Tucker, RF

7. Yuli Gurriel, 1B

8. Jose Siri, CF

9. Martin Maldonado, C

RHP Jose Urquidy

Atlanta Braves starting lineup

1. Eddie Rosario, LF

2. Freddie Freeman, 1B

3. Ozzie Albies, 2B

4. Austin Riley, 3B

5. Jorge Soler, DH

6. Joc Pederson, RF

7. Adam Duvall, CF

8. Travis d’Arnaud, C

9. Dansby Swanson, SS

Starting pitcher; Max Fried, LHP

Email from Roger Kirkby:

Subject line; Some baseball humour with a lot of swearing.

Hi Hunter, here’s Lewis Black’s take on baseball, very sweary, but funny.

I don’t have time to watch this, but I have fond memories of Lewis Black back in the golden era of “The Daily Show” so I will trust you on this one.

I am not going to suggest that this is going to be on par with Charlie Morton pitching through a broken leg, but I will say that I am going to be blogging through a horrifically chipped tooth.

Granted, this is more of a hockey-style injury but I do just want to make the statement that the willingness to play through injury isn’t just a trait found in athletes. (My roommates call this “stubborness” on my part, but we can quibble about definitions later.)

Preamble

Hello, welcome all to Game 2 of the World Series between the Atlanta Braves and the Houston Astros…

Wait, wait, come back! We promise that things will get more interesting from here if solely because there’s nowhere to go but up after a Game 1 snoozefest that couldn’t have satisfied anybody but Braves fans.

It’s never great when the most notable highlight of your game is a starting pitcher attempting to battle through a fractured fibula. Game 1 starter Charlie Morton actually was recording outs before his body fully registered the seriousness of his injury and he had to be lifted. He is now out for the remainder of the series, a huge blow for Atlanta in what otherwise would have been a perfect evening.

In fact, it felt like the game was decided in Atlanta’s favor after the Braves took a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth. This, unfortunately, made the subsequent 2 ½ hours feel entirely unnecessary. Despite a few brief flashes of a potential Houston comeback, the game puttered on slowly without much drama until the end of regulation, where the Braves held on to a 6-2 final score.

If you’re still on the fence about who to root for here considering that this is a battle between two of MLB’s most problematic teams… well, I’m afraid I can’t help you there. As your official baseball chronicler today, I’m just rooting for a fast-paced, interesting game. Heck, even super-long playoff games can be fun as heck when there’s drama.

It is our hope that this starts today as the Astros attempt to even out this World Series at 1-1. If you want to contribute to the liveblog, send us your comments, questions, predictions and so forth and we’ll include them throughout these next few hours. If you’re on Twitter you can send them to @HunterFelt and if not (this is very understandable) just email us at Hunter.Felt.Freelance@theguardian.com.

It’s Game 2 of the 2021 World Series between the Atlanta Braves and the Houston Astros at Houston’s Minute Maid Park. First pitch is scheduled at 8:09 pm EST, but we’ll be back well before then.

Hunter will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s how Game 1 went down:

A healthy swing by Jorge Soler powered the Atlanta Braves to a smashing start in the World Series.

Making his first start since testing positive for Covid-19, Soler became the first player to begin a World Series with a home run and the Braves, despite the loss of pitcher Charlie Morton to a broken leg, hushed the Houston Astros 6-2 Tuesday night in Game 1.

Boosted by a strong bullpen effort, a two-run homer by Adam Duvall and a late sacrifice fly from Freddie Freeman, the Braves coasted in their first Series appearance since Chipper Jones and their Big Three aces ascended in 1999.

Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa and the Astros mostly looked lost at the plate. This is their third World Series in five seasons – and first since their illegal sign-stealing scheme was revealed.