The World Series Is All Even

The Houston Astros accomplished the unthinkable on Wednesday night.

They won a World Series game. Fifty five years after their birth as the Houston Colt .45s, they won a World Series game for the first time.

George Springer’s two-run homer in the 11th inning of a game festooned with shots that landed in the seats, gave the Astros a 7-6 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers and evened the World Series at a game apiece. Play resumes on Friday in Houston.

You like home runs? The Dodgers had five hits and four were home runs. Six were hit by the two teams beginning in the top of the ninth. This is not a series where a single will be followed by a steal, a bunt and the hope of a sacrifice fly to score a run. No. These teams uncoil, whip the bat around and drive the ball. Hard.

Yasiel Puig hit the proverbial screaming line drive for a solo HR as the Dodgers scored twice in the bottom of the 10th to erase the 5-3 lead built on the back-to-back homers of Houston’s Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa.

After Springer put the Astros ahead in the top of the 11th, Charlie Culberson put one in the leftfield seats in the home half of the inning with two outs to again raise the hopes of Dodgers’ fans who thought this thing might be over when their team led 3-1 after six. But Puig struck out to end it after the count to 3-2.

The Astros, who joined the National League as an expansion team 55 years ago, went to one World Series before this one and were swept in 2005 by the Chicago White Sox. They moved to the American League in 2012.

They’ve now done something they had never done before. They’ve won a game in the World Series. And what a game they won. Now, can they win a World Series?

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman