World Series Game 2: Atlanta Braves 2-7 Houston Astros – live!

Final thoughts

As we said way back in the preamble, this never felt like it was going to be a short World Series. The Houston Astros and the Atlanta Braves are simply too evenly matched. So, it is no surprise that the Astros evened up the series score today in Game 2. Now, Houston has to win on the road, which is normally a trickier proposition than doing so at your home park.

This marks the end of the Guardian’s live World Series coverage for today but this liveblog will return for Saturday’s Game 4 in Atlanta. Be sure to stick with the Guardian for more news coming out of the World Series between now an then however. Thanks to everybody who followed along with us throughout today’s Game 2, particuarly those who contributed to this liveblog. Ciao!

The Houston Astros have beaten the Atlanta Braves in Game 2 of the 2021 World Series! The series is now evened up at 1-1 and heading to Atlanta for Friday’s Game 3!

Braves 2-7 Astros, FINAL

It’s all down to Swanson, who looks at strike one. He takes a look at a ball and then fouls off the next pitch for Strike 2. The Black Sabbath “Iron Man” riff plays to heighten the drama. 1-2. The next pitch? Another ball. 2-2. Graveman just needs one more pitch to induce the game’s final strikeout and there we have it! The Astros win!

Braves 2-7 Astros, Top 9th

No heroics from d’Arnaud, who grounds out to first. The Astros are an out away from tying up the 2021 World Series.

Braves 2-7 Astros, Top 9th

Kendall Graveman, whose Halloween Twitter name would be Kendall Graveman, is here to finish things up for the Astros. Adam Duvall is up for the Braves. He sees a ball and then swings and misses on pitch two before softly lining out to left for the first out of the ninth.

Braves 2-7 Astros, Bottom 8th

Altuve strikes out looking as well, but I think he’s already done his part to ensure an Astros victory. To the top of the 9th!

Braves 2-7 Astros, Bottom 8th

Maldonado is up next. He strikes out after just four pitches. Maybe the Astros are just looking forward to getting their first win of the World Series out of the way and not putting together solid at-bats.

Braves 2-7 Astros, Bottom 8th

Kyle Wright is here to pitch the bottom of the 8th, where he will face Siri. Not a lot of pinch-hitting going on in this game which has made recapping it a pleasure (assuming that I didn’t just jinx the whole thing right there).

Wright gets Siri to strike out on three pitches. Next!

Braves 2-7 Astros, Top 8th

And Pressley gets Pederson to strike out and that’s that. The Astros are going to hit in the bottom of the inning for what they hope with be the final time in Game 2.

Braves 2-7 Astros, Top 8th

Next up is Jorge Soler, who fouls off Pressly’s first pitch and then looks at a ball. 1-1. The next pitch… is a dramatically called strike 2. 1-2. Soler fouls off a pitch.

Soler then hits a mammoth shot that—at first—looks like it would be home run distance (but possibly foul) but it ends up just being a long flyball out. The Braves now have four outs total to deal with.

Braves 2-7 Astros, Top 8th

Once again, Pressly gets ahead of a hitter 0-2 but in this case Riley looks at strike three.

Braves 2-7 Astros, Top 8th

Closer Ryan “El Vez” Pressly is up next to pitch for the Astros, because there’s no use waiting for a save situation when you hit the World Series. He will be facing Albies to start the top of the eighth.

Albies falls into an 0-2 hole but he manages to work a leadoff walk, which might be like the one outcome that Dusty Baker wanted to avoid the most.

Braves 2-7 Astros, Bottom 7th

Gurriel is up with the bases loaded. At this point it’s very obvious that Smyly’s just been up to absorb innings and that Atlanta has given up here. We’re just looking to see what the final margins will be.

In any indication, Smyly takes care of Gurriel in three pitches. That’s the good news. The bad news is that they only have six more outs to piece together five more runs.

Braves 2-7 Astros, Bottom 7th

Is Tucker really back up there already? It’s been like a fast-paced assembly line here. Smyly’s 1-1 offering… is a wild one and on the cross-up between pitcher and catcher, Alvarez takes second. A base hit here means two.

Meanwhile, Tucker is in a 2-1 count after that pitching miscue. The next pitch? Outside. 3-1. Smyly is a pitch away from loading the bases, although I guess that will make the wild pitch irrelevant.

And as foretold, so it goes.

Braves 2-7 Astros, Bottom 7th

One on, runners at first-and-second. Carlos Correa is up here with Houston here eager to pad the score even further. Smyly’s first two cutters to Correa are outside of the zone. 2-0. Correa fouls off the next pitch. 2-1. Correa gives the next pitch a long ride but the stadium contains it.

Brantley makes it to third on the play but the Braves were just happy to get the all-important second out here.

Braves 2-7 Astros, Bottom 7th

One down, Smyly is facing Alvarez now with Brantley still stationed at second and-

He hits him! Just barely, but it’s enough to award him first base.

Braves 2-7 Astros, Bottom 7th

Or maybe not. Smyly immediately gets Bregman out and, well, at this point maybe it’s time for Atlanta to save its bullpen bullets for Game 3

Braves 2-7 Astros, Bottom 7th

Well, let’s see if the veteran Smyly can do better with Brantley.

Nope. Brantley hits a double. Smyly legally has to face at least one more batter before the Braves can lift him (unless there’s an injury). I don’t think he’s going to be seeing a fourth.

Braves 2-7 Astros, Bottom 7th

Jose Altuve greets Atlanta reliever Drew Smyly with a massive home run. Come on man, FOX had barely returned from break!

Seventh-inning stretch!

One of my favorite liveblogging traditions is to post this at least once per World Series: “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” as played by Frank Zappa.

Braves 2-6 Astros, Top 7th

Freddie Freeman, who may or may not have been named by Stan Lee, is up next. He almost instantly falls behind 0-2. It’s time for Minute Maid Park to get loud and for fans to start waving orange rally-towels. No strikeout this time, but they will gladly take the groundout that ends the inning.

We head to the seventh inning, to the sound of the Grateful Dead’s “Shakedown Street” for no real reason that I can tell. I’m not complaining.

Braves 2-6 Astros, Top 7th

Our new pitcher just so happens to be Phil “Auto” Maton who will be facing the dangerous Rosario. Maton’s first pitch? Outside. 1-0. Second pitch? Fouled away. 1-1. Next pitch? Rosario chases high heat. 1-2. Next pitch? A lazy pop up to the outfield. Rosario’s now 0-for-4, so his postseason hit streak is on the line.

Braves 2-6 Astros, Top 7th

Javier’s now trying to make a microwaved meal out of Swanson. Instead, Swanson shows off some patience, letting Javier fall behind 0-2, working a full count, and then taking a base-on-balls.

And it looks like Dusty Baker is going to the bullpen once more.

Braves 2-6 Astros, Top 7th

Javier is still out there and he’s facing d’Arnaud, who has probably been the biggest thorn in Houston’s side this game. He gets him to… yes, strike out swinging. We weren’t lying about how much modern baseball revolves around the k.

Well, maybe we could have gotten a worse broadcaster than John Smoltz.

Braves 2-6 Astros, Bottom 6th

Jesse Chavez is the new reliever for Atlanta, facing Maldonado with runners on second and third. He can’t worry about them, he has to concentrate on his hitter. He gets him into a 0-2 hole and then induces a pop-up to finally end the inning. We’re heading to the seventh!

Braves 2-6 Astros, Bottom 6th

Jose Siri is now up with a very easy RBI opportunity. He works a full-count against Lee, who still manages to induce a strikeout. Here comes Atlanta manager Brian Snitker to make another bullpen move.

Never mind, they both just pulled off a double-steal. So now, with just one out, there’s runners on second-and-third. Was not expecting that! Neither was Atlanta...

Braves 2-6 Astros, Bottom 6th

Gurriel grounds out into a fielder’s choice, which means that Alvarez scores. The officials have to determine whether or not the Braves fielders got an out on the play. After a quick review, they say no. So, it’s still just one out, with runners on first and second.

Braves 2-5 Astros, Bottom 6th

Kyle Tucker is up against Dylan Lee, the new Atlanta pitcher. Not an ideal spot to appear in the World Series: your team is already down three runs and you’re facing runners on first and second with nobody out. He comes in and gets what’s almost a double-play ball but it rolls just a tad slowly. Runners on the scorners now, with just one out.

Braves 2-5 Astros, Bottom 6th

Fried, however, is still out there for the sixth and he offers a leadoff walk to Yordan Alvarez. That’s probably not going to help his longevity.

Not at all, in fact. Correa singles and that’s going to be the end of his night. It was really just one terrible inning for Fried but... it was bad enough that he would deserve this L should the Braves not mount a comeback.

Email from Kurt Perleberg:

Worst World Series Ever?

Saying this would be 2006 World Champion St Louis Cardinals erasure. We could still get a good series here baseball-wise, after all.

Braves 2-5 Astros, Top 6th

Duvall hasn’t done much this game but he has a great opportunity here. He knows it too as he takes a massive cut on Javier’s first offering. It just puts him in a 0-1 count however. Javier swings and misses again and the crowd rises to will another k. Javier’s next pitch? Ball one. 1-2. Javier shakes off a few pitches and finds the one he wants: an offering that Duvall skies into foul territory for the third out.

If the Astros hold on to even this series up, this inning might just be remembered as the key one.