A fractured fibula suffered by Atlanta Braves pitcher Charlie Morton in the third inning of Game 1 against the Houston Astros ended his game. The Braves’ ace’s spectacular strikeout of Jose Altuve on a devastating 2-2 curveball might be the game’s most memorable moment. The Braves prevailed by a score of 6-2.
Framber Valdez was booed after only two-plus innings of work in which he gave up five runs on eight hits, the most of which were rockets traveling at speeds exceeding 100 mph, including home runs to Jorge Soler and Adam Duvall into the Crawford Boxes in left field.
The real story, however, was Atlanta’s bullpen, which allowed just two runs in the final 6.2 innings to the strong Astros lineup. Despite allowing one run each, A.J. Minter and Tyler Matzek combined to pitch four innings after dominating the NLCS. You can bet Minter or Matzek will face the Astros at some point if they want to win this series. They’ve both shown they can get more than two or three outs. Brian Snitker will probably avoid Minter in Game 2 because he threw 43 pitches. It appears that Matzek will be ready to pitch on Wednesday after throwing 20 pitches on Tuesday and telling Snitker that he can do it every day. For Luke Jackson, who struggled mightily in the NLCS, the victory was a huge confidence booster.
Baserunning is something else to keep an eye on. A short fly ball to right field scored Dansby Swanson, then Yuli Gurriel slipped on a slide and failed to turn an RBI single into a double. Watch and watch how the rest of the series affects the team’s speed. As a whole, the Astros’ baserunning is subpar, to say the least. When it came to “extra” bases, the Braves took 44 percent of them during the regular season, which ranked them fourth in baseball. The Astros, meanwhile, took 36 percent of them, which ranked them 25th through 28th, just ahead of the Yankees and a few other teams.
How significant is the second game, which will see Jose Urquidy taking the field against Max Fried? The away team has won the first two games in the World Series 14 times, and has gone on to win the championship 11 of those occasions as well. With Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, and Carlos Correa all going 0 for 12, the Astros will need more from their right-handed bats against Fried.
A run in the eighth inning by each club
It’s now 6-1 as Freddie Freeman’s sacrifice fly to shallow right field extends the lead to six runs, and Dansby Swanson had no business scoring on the play, in my opinion. The throw from Kyle Tucker was poor and up the line, and Jason Castro was unable to deliver the tag with enough force. Third-base coach Ron Washington of the Braves is responsible for another aggressive throw, similar to the one from the NLCS, which should be watched for the rest of the series.
Carlos Correa walked to load the bases after Yordan Alvarez’s RBI triple. Eddie Rosario’s rocket arm prevented Yuli Gurriel from sliding safely into scoring position at second base.
Atlanta’s season continues despite the absence of their star player.
In the bottom of the third inning, Morton got Jose Altuve with a 2-2 curveball, but he grimaced as he finished his delivery and had to leave the game. Morton seemed to injure his right ankle when throwing a pitch to Astros left fielder Michael Brantley, according to ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez, and limped off the field after being checked on by the Braves’ trainer, according to Gonzalez.
Morton has been ruled out for the remainder of the World Series due to a fractured right fibula, according to the Braves. As a result, Huascar Ynoa, the Braves’ starting pitcher, is no longer eligible to play in the World Series because of inflammation in his shoulder. They did add Kyle Wright to the roster, who had a Triple-A ERA of 3.02 before being called up to the majors (but just two starts in the majors). If Drew Smyly and Wright were to pitch together in Game 4, the Braves may have to delay using Wright as a starter/long reliever in Game 5. With this game and whatever happens in Games 4 and 5, it appears that the Atlanta bullpen will be asked to carry a heavier load in this series, putting additional pressure on Max Fried and Ian Anderson to pitch a little deeper in Games 2 and 3 — and remember that Brian Snitker has a quick hook for Anderson in the postseason.
Without their ace, the Atlanta bullpen will now have to close out the game. The first one out of the bullpen is lefty A.J. Minter, who has been outstanding in the postseason, allowing just two hits in 713 innings of scoreless work. In the NLCS, he went two innings twice, and he went three innings last year, so he’s capable of going the distance, but Snitker will probably have to go deeper into his bullpen than he’d like to in this game. Like Tyler Matzek and Will Smith, Luke Jackson has pitched well in the playoffs, but he struggled against the Dodgers and will need to get some huge outs to keep his job.
The Braves pounded Valdez for eight hits in two and a half innings, and six of those batted balls were hit at speeds of 100 mph or higher (and are the first team to score in each of the first three innings of Game 1 of the World Series). What could happen to Valdez if the low strike calls on his sinker stop coming? That’s what happened when Chris Conroy, the home-plate umpire, stopped calling them. It has the potential to soon devolve into a batting cage.
With a bang, to begin
In Game 1, the Braves’ designated hitter Jorge Soler blasted a 2-0 fastball from Braves pitcher Jose Valdez into the Crawford Boxes in left field, igniting the World Series. Here’s some background information: Soler became the first player to hit a home run in the top of the first inning, and he did it against a pitcher who was notoriously difficult to drive in, as Valdez had the best groundball percentage of any big league starter last season (70 percent). As soon as Ozzie Albies singled, Austin Riley doubled him home for a quick 2-0 advantage. Because Riley’s double came with the score at 3-0, Valdez’s inability to take the lead early on cost him.
There was some debate amongst the experts before the game about whether Snitker should have kept Rosario in the leadoff spot, where he had excelled and won MVP honors during the NLCS. Snitker, though, opted for the platoon matchup, hitting Soler leadoff, where he had excelled in September, and moving Rosario back down to the fifth slot due to the addition of Soler in the DH role. Because Soler is in front of Rosario and Albies is behind him, Dusty Baker will find it more difficult to use one of his left-handed relievers later in the game against Freddie Freeman. in the words of David Schoenfield
A bases-loaded predicament was avoided in the bottom of the inning by Braves starter Morton.
Arrivals
This is how the Atlantans do it before a game.
It’s no secret that Waffle House is a huge hit in the South. Chunky and covered. Alternatively, you can serve it smothered, coated, chunked, and sprinkled with pepper. If you know something, you already are aware of it. Waffle House’s headquarters are in Norcross, Georgia, which is just outside of Atlanta.
Despite not being on the team’s postseason roster, Braves pitcher Tucker Davidson hosted a lavish Waffle House feast in honor of his teammates.