For the first time in history, after being swept by the Chicago White Sox in 2005, the Houston Astros are World Series Champions. In Game Seven of a teeter tottering series lead exchange, the Los Angeles Dodgers were helpless in the most important 9 innings since April. Houston won Game Seven 5-1.
The Astros recorded just one run on a George Springer solo shot in the third inning during Game Six of the 2017 World Series. This was a relatively unproductive day for the club, coming up two runs short of their first World Series Title and Los Angeles was able to tie the series at three, forcing the most dramatic matchup in baseball: Game Seven.
1st Inning: Houston sprung out early with a George Springer one-out double in the top of the first, applying pressure on the hometown Dodgers. Alex Bregman knocked home Springer on a throwing error from first baseman Cody Bellinger. Houston took the lead 2-0 after an RBI ground out off the bat of Jose Altuve.
2nd Inning: With McCann on third, starting pitcher for the Astros, Lance McCullers Jr. squibbed a weak ground ball past Yu Darvish resulting in another run for H-Town. Tensions were running high, yet Dodger Stadium produced no audible excitement. The park went mute in every area of the stadium, with the exception of the visitors dugout. Especially following another two-run no-doubter by the suspecting George Springer.
The home run reinforced his impactful season, as the out-fielder homered in three previous games, making Game Seven a historic four in a row, with five in total. This ties the legendary, Mr. October, Reggie Jackson (1977) with most all-tae in World Series play.
Brandon Morrow would relieve Yu Darvish (2.2 IP), to sit down strikeout victim, Alex Bregman.
In the bottom half of the second, the Dodgers’ apparent scoring opportunity was put to an abrupt halt by an unassisted double play from Jose Altuve with a man on second and one down.
3rd Inning: Clayton Kershaw reclaimed the mound for the final time in 2017, and was perfect, going 3 up, 3 down and waiving one.
History made it’s mark again this World Series, this time from the fingertips of Lance McCullers. The aggressively inside-throwing Astros pitcher plunked the Dodger lineup four times, and Justin Turner was on the receiving end of half of them. Four hit batsmen is a single-game World Series record.
McCullers made the quick recalibration and sat down slugger, Cody Bellinger on four pitches, prior to being relieved by Brad Peacock. Peacock’s entrance from the bullpen made this Game Seven the first in history where neither starter had been able to endure three innings of the opponent’s lineup.
6th Inning: Carlos Correa’s leadoff single offered the only source of production as the inning ended with him in the same position: at first base.
Los Angeles took advantage of their challenger’s failure to put any more runs up as Pederson lines a leadoff one-bagger of is own and gets the momentum going, ending up on third with the bases loaded and one out. Andre Eithier shot a frozen rope, splitting the diamond in half, and earning the first run of the ballgame for the Dodgers. Unfortunately for LA, they were unable to produce any more run support and left a pair of men stranded, still trailing the Astros 5-1.
9th Inning: The 2017 World Series ended with a ground out into the shift, fielded by Jose Altuve.
In the midst of a less-than-entertained Dodger Stadium, the jubilance radiated off of the field by the historic Houston Astros ball club.
Carlos Correa was named the World Series MVP, and later proposed to his girlfriend.
