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Jorge Soler and Adam Duvall homered and the Braves overcame the
loss of Charlie Morton by riding an early outburst to a 6-2
victory over the host Houston Astros on Tuesday.
The Braves scored in each of their first three at-bats, building
a 5-0 lead against Houston's Framber Valdez (0-1). The
left-hander had twirled eight spectacular innings in Game 5 of
the American League Championship Series against the Boston Red
Sox, but three pitches into his fourth start this postseason,
Valdez found himself trailing.
"It's done with now," Valdez said after allowing five runs on
eight hits and one walk in two-plus innings. "I'm just going to
have to come back in the next outing and do everything I can and
work to be better next time."
Soler and Duvall striking decisive blows was fitting. Both were
part of a run on outfielders at the trade deadline, with the
Braves opting to counter the loss of superstar right fielder
Ronald Acuna Jr. by acquiring four outfielders in late July: Joc
Pederson, Eddie Rosario, Soler and Duvall.
Soler drilled a 2-0 sinker from Valdez into the Crawford Boxes
in left field, a 382-foot leadoff blast. The Braves recorded
three batted balls with exit velocities of at least 105 mph in
the top of the first inning, including an Austin Riley RBI
double that scored Ozzie Albies and doubled the lead to 2-0.
After facing six batters in the first, Valdez faced seven more
in the second, with Soler plating Travis d'Arnaud on a fielder's
choice grounder. Despite his struggles, Valdez retook the mound
in the third but he faced just two batters. Duvall followed a
Rosario leadoff single with a two-run homer to left for a 5-0
lead. The blast traveled 387 feet with a 111.7 mph exit
velocity.
Morton pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the
first thanks in part to a dazzling defensive play from Albies,
who smothered a grounder from Kyle Tucker before assisting on
the final out. Morton opened the second by taking a sharp
grounder from Yuli Gurriel off his lower right leg but appeared
unfazed while retiring the bottom of the Houston lineup in
order.
In the third inning, Morton winced and buckled while recording a
called third strike on the leadoff batter, Jose Altuve. He
departed with Atlanta medical personnel, and the Braves later
announced that Morton sustained a fractured right fibula that
would sideline him for the remainder of the World Series.
"We've been through this many times this year, losing key
components to our club. I mean, really key components," Braves
manager Brian Snitker said. "We're going to continue. It's not
going to be an excuse or anything else. We're going to go out
and continue to try and win games." "We've overcome every
adversity that's come our way," d'Arnaud added.
Armed with a five-run lead, Braves relievers A.J. Minter (1-0),
Luke Jackson, Tyler Matzek and Will Smith covered the final 6
2/3 innings, allowing two runs on seven hits and one walk with
eight strikeouts. Minter threw a career-high 43 pitches in 2 2/3
innings after replacing Morton in the third.
The Astros proved unable to mount a credible threat against
Morton or the Atlanta bullpen. Michael Brantley finished 3-for-5
but was sandwiched between Altuve and Alex Bregman, who were a
combined 0-for-9 with five strikeouts. Yordan Alvarez, the ALCS
MVP, went 1-for-3 with a run and a walk, but the Braves limited
the Astros to 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
Tucker and Gurriel each produced a two-hit game, but neither
recorded an RBI. Brantley said of turning the page to Game 2,
"Yeah, that's what this team does so well. It's a
one-game-at-a-time mentality always. We lost tonight. We're
looking forward to coming back tomorrow and playing a better
game and hopefully, we get a win."
Houston got run-scoring groundouts from Chas McCormick in the
fourth inning and Carlos Correa in the eighth. Atlanta first
baseman Freddie Freeman hit a sacrifice fly in the top of the
eighth that plated Dansby Swanson. Soler, Albies and Rosario
each had two hits for the Braves.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series will be played Wednesday in
Houston.
--Field Level Media
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