After five hours and 17 minutes and more than 400 pitches, the Houston Astros won Game 5 of the World Series and took the series lead 3-2 over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Both teams kept the score close throughout the game and hit a combined total of seven home runs. With the score tied 12-12 at the end of the ninth, the game headed into extra innings. A line drive to left field by 23-year-old Alex Bregman ended the game with pinch runner Derek Fisher scoring the winning run in the bottom of the 10th. With a final score of 13-12, Houston won its last home game of the 2017 season.
The teams will head to Los Angeles for Game 6 on Tuesday.
Dodgers start strong
The Dodgers got their start early in the game with three runs in the first inning. After Chris Taylor's single to first, both Justin Turner and Kike Hernandez were walked, leaving the bases loaded. Logan Forsythe took advantage of that with a single to left field that brought in two runs. When Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchal tried to pick Forsythe off at first, Hernandez scored the Dodgers third run.
Houston failed to get any runs on the board in the first inning and remained scoreless until the fourth inning.
At the start of the fourth, Forsythe hit a double and remained at second base until Austin Barnes stepped up with a single to left field that opened the door for Forsythe to up the Dodgers score 4-0.
Houston heats up
Then, after three scoreless innings for the Astros, the team tied up the inning. The Astros got on base as George Springer walked to first, followed with a single by Jose Altuve. Springer scored the Astros first run when Carlos Correa hit a double that also advanced Altuve to third. With the score 4-1, Yulieski Gurriel landed a three-run homerun to tie the game 4-4. Gurriel's game-tying homer came only a day after Bob Manfred, the commissioner of Major League Baseball, announced Gurriel's five-game suspension for the start of the 2018 season. The suspension resulted from Gurriel making a racist gesture in Game 3 toward Japanese LA Dodgers player Yu Darvish.
Moving into the fifth inning the Dodgers attempted to regain their lead over the Astros. Houston pitcher Collin McHugh walked Corey Seager and Turner. After Hernandez struck out, 22-year-old rookie Cody Bellinger knocked the ball over right field for a three-run homer, which gave Los Angeles a 7-4 lead.
That lead was short-lived as the Astros went to bat in the bottom of the fifth. With two outs, Springer once again walked to first as Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw became visibly upset at his loss of control. Following Springer, Kershaw also walked Alex Bregman before being relieved by the Dodgers Kenta Maeda.
Maeda entered the game as Altuve's turn at bat came. With a 3-2 count, Altuve landed the game's third three-run homer and tied the score 7-7.
Neither team would score in the sixth inning.
Back-and-forth scoring
In the seventh inning, a hit by Bellinger to center field would make it past the Houston's Springer, allowing Bellinger to reach third and Hernandez to score. Bellinger gave the Dodgers an 8-7 lead, but it was once again short-lived.
As the first batter in the bottom of the seventh, Springer would get back the run that he gave up with a home run on the first pitch. The batting strength continued as Bregman had a single, followed by a double by Altuve that allowed Bregman to score and gave the Astros a 9-8 lead with no outs.
During Correa's at bat, a wild pitch allowed Altuve to advance to third base. Shortly after, Correa hit a home run over left field and widened the Astros' lead 11-8 and caused the Dodgers to bring Tony Cingrani in to pitch. After two strike outs and a pop fly to left, the teams moved to the eighth inning.
The game of call and return continued with two doubles, one from Pederson and the other from Seager, that made the score 11-9. But the Astros kept their three-run lead when Brian McCann hit another home run, making the score 12-9.
Almost 5 hours later
Starting the ninth inning down three runs didn't discourage the Dodgers. Bellinger got to first through a walk and then, after not having much of a show at bat earlier in the game, Yasiel Puig hit a home run and lessened the Astros lead to 12-11.
After Barnes hit a double to center and stole third, the Dodgers tied up the game – again – when a solid hit to center gave Barnes time to get home. A strong defensive show by Los Angles blocked the Astros from a shot at ending the game in the ninth and extended the already long game.
Ultimately, Bregman's hit in the 10th would end the long game in which walks set the stage for multi-run homers and where both teams exhausted their bull pens. Despite a few slow innings, the close game was full of excitement — and there's not much more you can ask for when it comes to two of the best teams dueling it out in the post-season.
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