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Nov. 2, 2021, 8:01 p.m. ET
Nov. 2, 2021, 8:01 p.m. ET
Reporting from Minute Maid Park
Atlanta is the 69th team in World Series history to have a lead of three games to two. Most of those teams — 45 — ultimately won the series. (Atlanta’s 1995 team was one of them. The 2017 Astros were another.)
Nov. 2, 2021, 8:00 p.m. ET
Nov. 2, 2021, 8:00 p.m. ETCredit…Doug Mills/The New York Times
HOUSTON — Since breaking his right leg while starting Game 1 in Houston, Atlanta right-hander Charlie Morton has not been visible since. And Atlanta Manager Brian Snitker confirmed before Game 6 that Morton did not travel to Texas with the team, instead remaining at home.
“He’s not allowed to fly,” Snitker said. “I hate it for Charlie that he couldn’t come, but he physically couldn’t, wasn’t able to come with us.”
Morton fractured his right fibula in Game 1. Yuli Gurriel hit a hard smash up the middle that ricocheted off Morton’s shin. Morton remained in the game, getting two more outs in the second inning and then striking out Jose Altuve to start the third. But he was in obvious pain after the final pitch to Altuve and X-rays later revealed the fracture. The team contended the fracture was not visible on an X-ray between the innings.
There has been plenty of debate since whether Morton had stayed in the game on a broken leg, or whether Gurriel’s shot compromised the leg and then the fracture occurred sometime later. Either way, Atlanta held on to win the game.
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Nov. 2, 2021, 7:31 p.m. ET
Nov. 2, 2021, 7:31 p.m. ET
Reporting from Minute Maid Park
For just the second time this postseason, the roof is open here in Houston. The Astros won Game 2 of the World Series, the other time during this playoff run that Minute Maid Park was open-air. It’s a clear, cool night here, with a very light wind so far.
Credit…Annie Mulligan for The New York Times
Nov. 2, 2021, 7:30 p.m. ET
Nov. 2, 2021, 7:30 p.m. ETCredit…Annie Mulligan for The New York Times
HOUSTON — Atlanta dropped second baseman Ozzie Albies from third to seventh in tonight’s Game 6 lineup and first baseman Freddie Freeman from second to third against Astros right-hander Luis Garcia.
It is the first time in this World Series that the switch-hitting Albies has not batted third, and that the left-handed Freeman has not batted second. Albies is struggling against Houston, hitting .167 (3 for 18) with a .286 on-base percentage.
“Just change the look, which we do a lot over the course of the year,” Atlanta Manager Brian Snitker said, explaining that he wanted Jorge Soler, who is batting second behind leadoff man Eddie Rosario, “to split the lefties, if nothing else. I don’t think it matters to Freddie whether he hits two or three. He’s going to get up in the first inning regardless. I think Jorge has been having some really good at-bats. And it just kind of balances things out a little bit.”
Albies hit only .235 batting lefty against right-handed pitchers this season. Batting right-handed against lefties, he hit .323.
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Nov. 2, 2021, 7:00 p.m. ET
Nov. 2, 2021, 7:00 p.m. ETCredit…Annie Mulligan for The New York Times
HOUSTON — Part of the reason the Astros are starting Luis Garcia in Game 6 on short rest, rather than running back Jose Urquidy after his one-inning, 14-pitch outing in Game 5 on Sunday, is because of what they saw in the American League Championship Series against Boston.
Nathan Eovaldi started Game 2 for the Red Sox on Oct. 16, then threw 24 pitches while getting two outs in relief on Oct. 19 (while surrendering four runs). He then came back to start Game 6 on Oct. 22. Eovaldi, who had held Houston to three runs and five hits over five and a third innings in his Game 2 start, was the losing pitcher in Game 6 despite allowing only one run and five hits over four and a third innings.
Houston was taking notes.
“He wasn’t quite as sharp on that start after his bullpen day,” Houston Manager Dusty Baker said. “So you sort of take a page from other people’s groups. You tend to know your personnel.”
Baker noted that Eovaldi lasted only 63 pitches in Game 6 after throwing 81 in Game 2.
“So you had all those things in there,” Baker said, before adding about Garcia: “If it works, it’s great. If not, he’ll probably get criticized. But you’ve got to do what’s best that you think for the team and for the player.”
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Nov. 2, 2021, 6:30 p.m. ET
Nov. 2, 2021, 6:30 p.m. ETCredit…Doug Mills/The New York Times
Atlanta’s starting pitcher tonight is Max Fried, who lost Game 2. He gave up six runs, five of them earned, and had a misery-filled second inning.
But he pitched well, with the box score being more a casualty of an error and the baseball finding holes rather than any egregious mistakes by the man on the mound.
“I’m having a hard time convincing myself that he struggled,” Atlanta Manager Brian Snitker said after Game 2, which Houston won, 7-2. “The second inning, when they scored, it was kind of a weird inning, you know what I mean? It wasn’t like he was getting banged around. Balls found holes, checked swings, we threw a ball away.”
Fried was less forgiving of himself.
“You got to do everything you can to keep the crooked number off the scoreboard,” said Fried, who noted that Houston had seemed ready for the fastball he ordinarily uses to try to get grounders. “At the end of the day, they put up four runs in that inning. You need to do better next time, just making pitches, getting out of it.”
When he spoke to reporters on Monday, Fried said that while he expected to tweak his approach as Tuesday’s game progressed, people should not anticipate anything close to an overhaul.
“It’s just sticking with your strengths, pitching my game and really just trusting what we see with our eyes,” he said. “We’re going to make adjustments. At this time of year, it’s about just getting outs. So whatever we can do to get outs is what the plan of attack is going to be.”
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Nov. 2, 2021, 6:00 p.m. ET
Nov. 2, 2021, 6:00 p.m. ETCredit…Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
The Astros are looking to break a long streak in Major League Baseball: Since the 2013 Boston Red Sox clinched at Fenway Park, no team has locked up the World Series on its home field.
Really.
In 2019, when the Washington Nationals beat the Houston Astros for the title, they not only failed to win the World Series at home, they never won a single game in Washington.
Atlanta spoiled its chance to win a title before its fans at Truist Park — where, until Sunday, it was 7-0 this postseason — but Manager Brian Snitker said he would ultimately not mind where his team won, if it did.
“I don’t care where we’re at,” he said. “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.”
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Nov. 2, 2021, 5:32 p.m. ET
Nov. 2, 2021, 5:32 p.m. ETCredit…Dale Zanine/USA Today Sports, via Reuters
If Atlanta wins a championship tonight, it will happen without a key pinch-hitter, as Ehire Adrianza was placed on the paternity list ahead of Game 6 so he could attend the birth of his child.
Adrianza has not made much of an impact in the postseason — he’s 1 for 10 in 10 appearances. But his lone hit was a two-out double in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, which came one batter ahead of Eddie Rosario’s game-changing (and largely series clinching) three-run go-ahead homer off Walker Buehler.
During the regular season, Adrianza appeared as a pinch-hitter in 72 games and hit .250 (16 for 64) with three homers and 12 R.B.I. in those games.
Adrianza was replaced on Atlanta’s roster by Johan Camargo, who is 0 for 4 this postseason.
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Nov. 2, 2021, 5:31 p.m. ET
Nov. 2, 2021, 5:31 p.m. ET
By now this should all feel familiar, even with the World Series shifting back to Houston for Game 6 tonight (and potentially Game 7 on Wednesday).
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Who: The Atlanta Braves vs. the Houston Astros
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What: Game 6 of the 117th World Series
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When: 8:09 p.m. Eastern time
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Where: Minute Maid Park in Houston
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Watch: The game will be broadcast by Fox and can be streamed on FoxSports.com as well as streaming services like FuboTV, Hulu Live and YouTube TV.
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What’s at stake: With Atlanta leading the series, three games to two, the Braves are a win away from the franchise’s first championship since 1995. A Houston win would force a decisive Game 7 on Wednesday night as the Astros seek their first title since 2017.
