In a World Series filled with controversy, timely home runs, and late-inning comebacks, a Game 7 was the finale we all wanted. But under a southern California sky in a crowd filled with celebrities and baseball luminaries, fans who were hoping for a late-inning, back-and-forth ball game were sorely disappointed.
Astros’ hot start
Hot-hitting George Springer led off the first inning with a bullet down the third base line for a standup double. The next batter, Alex Bregman, hit a bouncing ball to Dodger first baseman, Cody Bellinger. But as pitcher Yu Darvish sprinted to cover the bag, Bellinger threw the ball behind him, allowing Springer to score on the error and Bregman to take to second base.
Bregman then stole third and scored the second run of the game on a ground-out by Jose Altuve.
The bleeding for Dodger blue continued in the second inning with a Brian McCann walk. Marwin Gonzalez followed him up in the lineup with a double. And then with runners on second and third and one out, pitcher Lance McCullers hit a slow dribbler to the second baseman, driving McCann in with no play at the plate. After getting things started in the first inning, George Springer came up and socked a two-run homer to extend the lead to 5-0, which is all the scoring the Astros would need.
With five home runs in the series, Springer was named World Series MVP.
Dodgers' lost opportunities
The Dodgers had chances to score all game long, leaving 10 runners on base.
Even after the Astros ran out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, Chris Taylor started off the bottom of the inning with a double to right-center field. After two Dodger players struck out and two more got hit by pitches, Joc Pederson came up with the bases loaded. He entered the game hitting .357 in the World Series with three home runs but grounded to second, ending the inning.
The Dodgers opened the bottom of the third inning with a base hit by Corey Seager. Seager moved to second after Justin Turner got beaned. And with two on and zero out, the Dodgers had their chance. But Bellinger struck out, Yasiel Puig flied out to center field (moving Seager to third), and Joc Pederson struck out swinging to end the inning.
The bottom of the fifth was more of the same for Los Angeles. After lead-off hitter Taylor flied out to left field, Seager walked, and Turner hit a single off the Astros' third baseman's glove. But with another Dodger runner in scoring position, Bellinger grounded to second (moving Seager to third), and then Puig lined out to first.
The Dodgers scored their only run in the bottom of the sixth when Pederson finally got the hit he needed all game. After Logan Forsythe walked, veteran Andre Either pinched hit for Clayton Kershaw and knocked Pederson in with a single to right.
Astros pitching
You can't have bad hitting without good pitching. But even though Astros' starter Lance McCullers lasted just one out into the second inning, he didn't give up any runs and pitched himself out of numerous jams.
Brad Peacock relieved him and tossed two shut innings. After Francisco Liriano and Chris Devenski came into pitch to just one batter each, it was Charlie Morton who came in and finished off the Dodgers. He pitched four innings, gave up two hits, one run, and struck out four.
