Final thoughts
A great start by Justin Verlander feels like days ago and, well, it was a day ago in some time zones. But the long ball put the Astros down ... and then it brought them back. What a game of swings, both figurative and literal.
Game 3 will be Friday night in Houston. See you then.
Updated
Astros win! World Series tied at 1-1!
Devenski battled Puig to a 3-2 count and then got him to swing on a pitch low and away. What a game. The eight combined home runs set a World Series record.
This year's Dodgers had been a perfect 98-0 when leading after eight innings including postseason games. They're now 98-1.
— Bryan Armen Graham (@BryanAGraham) October 26, 2017
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Culberson homers!
Astros 7-6 Dodgers, bottom of 11th
Well, that felt inevitable. And now Yasiel Puig is up.
Astros 7-5 Dodgers, bottom of 11th
Devenski gets Turner to line out to third. Two out and now Charlie Culberson come to the plate.
Astros 7-5 Dodgers, bottom of 11th
Corey Seager lines out to center off of Devenski to open the bottom half of the 11th. Two outs left.
Astros 7-5 Dodgers, end of Top 11th
McCarthy settles down after the two-run homer and retires three batters in a row, so now we go to the bottom of the 11th. Which players will hit the inevitable home runs that push this game to the 12th? Stay tuned to fined out!
Astros take a 7-5 lead!
George Springer goes opposite field to plate Maybin. There have now been ... approximately 78 home runs hit in this game.
Astros 5-5 Dodgers, top of 11th
Maybin scores second. Good jump, good throw, but he just gets in. Man on second now with no one out.
Astros 5-5 Dodgers, top of 11th
Cameron Maybin ropes one into left-center for a single. One one and no out.
Brandon McCarthy no in to pitch for the Dodgers.
You may know him from Twitter. But, believe it or not, he also pitches in the major leagues.
Astros 5-5 Dodgers, end of the 10th
Devenski gets Taylor to pop one to centerfield an we’re on to the 11th.
Chris Devenski now in to pitch for the Astros.
Before throwing a single pitch, Devenski tries to pick off Hernandez at second, but throws the ball of the base umpire. Had it not hit the ump, Hernandez easily could have advanced to third. Still two out.
There are undoubtedly some Dodgers fans who left before this inning to beat traffic. They are probably not happy right now.
Tie game! Hernandez knocks in Forsythe!
Hernandez comes through again. He laced a single to right and Forsythe just slid home ahead of a strong throw from Reddick. Wow.
Astros 5-4 Dodgers, bottom of 10th
Giles throws a wild pitch to move Forsythe to second. Tying run now in scoring position with two out.
Astros 5-4 Dodgers, bottom of 10th
Giles walks Logan Forsythe, bringing up Kike Hernandez, who had a big moment in the NLCS.
Astros 5-4 Dodgers, bottom of 10th
Giles gets Barnes swinging, as well. Two outs.
Astros 5-4 Dodgers, bottom of 10th
Giles strikes out Yasmani Grandal to get the first out. Houston now just two outs away from the franchise’s first-ever World Series win.
Yasiel Puig homers! It’s 5-4!
Astros 5-4 Dodgers, bottom of 10th
Giles opens the bottom of the 10th by giving up a blast to Puig to left-center. This game has all the home runs.
Astros 5-3 Dodgers, end of Top 10th
Cingrani makes quick work, ending it with a double play ball. Now the Dodgers will look to make their own comeback from a 2-run deficit.
Tony Cingrani now in to pitch for the Dodgers.
He quickly records the first out of the inning.
Astros 5-3 Dodgers, top of 10th
And now Gurriel doubles. Fields is already being removed from the game. This is probably not how he envisioned pitching in the World Series when he was little kid.
Astros hit back-to-back homers! 5-3 Astros!
Correa follows Altuve with his own rocket to left center. Josh Fields is having a bad night. As are all the Dodgers fans who are now completely silent.
Astros take the lead on a Jose Altuve home run!
It’s now 4-3 Astros with none out in the Top of the 10th.
Altuve had an ugly night at the plate before that. But, yeah, a 10th inning homer in the World Series? That makes up for any earlier batting sins.
Josh Fields is now in to pitch for the Dodgers.
He is LA’s seventh pitcher of the night. They only have two relievers left.
Astros 3-3 Dodgers, end of the 9th
Giles struck out Kyle Seager and then got Justin Turner to ground out to short. Cody Bellinger then launched a ball deep to right-center ... but it fell just short of the wall.
We now go to extras. Dave Roberts already went deep into his bullpen, so he has some interesting decision to make coming up.
Ken Giles is in to pitch for the Astros.
Giles is Houston’s closer, but his job right now is to keep this game open to the 10th.
Astros 3-3 Dodgers, end of Top 9th
Bregman grounds out to short to end the inning, but the Astros extend the game. Roberts gamble to have Jensen pitch 2 innings didn’t pay off.
Astros 3-3 Dodgers, top of 9th
After Jensen battled back to record two quick outs, George Springer worked the count and then laced a double just inside the third base line. Man on second, two outs. Bregman up.
Tie game! Marwin Gonzalez homers!
Astros 3-3 Dodgers, top of 9th
Marwin Gonzalez just bashed a cutter over the center field wall to tie the game. The air just left Dodger Stadium.
Updated
Astros 2-3 Dodgers, end of 8th
Musgrove does his job. He gets Chase Utley to fly out to left, then Kike Hernandez grounded out and Chris Taylor flew out to left.
We are on to the ninth and the Astros have the bottom of their order due up.
Joe Musgrove now in to pitch for the Astros.
His job: keep the deficit just one.
Astros 2-3 Dodgers, end of Top 8th
Gurriel’s rough night continues with a weak pop up into foul territory along the first baseline and then McCann K’s on a full count with Correa running. Three outs left for the Astros.
Astros cut it to 3-2!
Astros 2-3 Dodgers, top of 8th
Altuve recorded the first out, but moved Bregman to third on a bouncer up the middle. Then Correa slapped a single through the infield to score him. Gurriel is now up with Correa on first and one out.
Don’t let anyone ever tell you that Yasiel Puig doesn’t care.
Dang... Puig to cold. Staring at that glove now huh? @YasielPuig good catch bro. pic.twitter.com/eNTzVU5vke
— Cade Moise (@CadeMoise) October 26, 2017
Kenley Jansen in to pitch for the Dodgers.
Dave Roberts goes to the bullpen again and this time it’s to his closer. He needs six outs to put the Dodgers up 2-0.
Astros 1-3 Dodgers, top of 8th
Bregman opens the inning with a double to right that just clipped off the tip of the glove of a diving Yasiel Puig, before bouncing out of play. The Astros have something cooking.
If Game 3 comes down to spitting, the Astros will win in a blowout thanks to Lance McCullers.
@sportspickle The MVP of spittin’. pic.twitter.com/EF3mH5SMZQ
— Patrick Douglas (@NiobrarasThorn) October 26, 2017
Astros 1-3 Dodgers, end of 7th
Harris finally got Pederson to strike out and then retired Austin Barnes on a swinging strike to end the inning and strand a runner on third.
Houston’s 2-3-4 hitters are coming up as we head to the 8th.
Astros 1-3 Dodgers, bottom of 7th
Just a quick update on the very slow, mostly nothing that has happened so far in this half of the inning. There’s been a lot of batters asking for time ...
Bellinger opened the inning by reaching first on an error to Bregman. (Although the error should have gone to the first baseman Gurriel, who simply failed to catch a low throw.) A few pitches later, he advanced to second on a Harris wild pitch. Puig then moved him to third on a grounder to shortstop for the first out. And that’s where we are, with Pederson at the plate.
Justin Verlander is out of the game for the Astros.
Yes, Evan Gattis was a pinch hitter in the top of the 7th, meaning Verlander’s night is over after six innings and just two hits ... except both of those hits landed over the fence.
Now pitching for Houston is right-handed reliever Will Harris.
Astros 1-3 Dodgers, end of Top 7th
Morrow fared much better than Stripling. He induced Reddick into a double play before yielding an infield single to pinch hitter Evan Gattis. Morrow then ended the inning on a sharp grounder to short by Springer.
The Dodgers pen now has 28 consecutive scoreless innings.
Brandon Morrow in to pitch for Stripling.
Four pitches, all balls, and Stripling is pulled. Is Dave Roberts aware he doesn’t have 25 relievers in the World Series?
Ross Stripling in to pitch for Tony Watson.
The Dodgers go to their third reliever of the night ... and he promptly walks the first Houston batter on 4 pitches.
Seager knew it was gone off the bat.
COREY SEAGER DELIVERS A 2 RUN DINGER OFF JUSTIN VERLANDER 😳🔥https://t.co/LJxrDRnBaf
— Baseball King™ (@BasebaIlKing) October 26, 2017
Astros 1-3 Dodgers, end of 6th
Well, that turned quickly. Verlander retired Turner to end the inning, but he is now at 79 pitcher through 6 innings, with 37 of them coming in the last two innings.
The Astros will now have to scratch together two runs against the Dodger bullpen and, if they don’t, they’ll be down 2-0 in the Series and possibly deflated by not even being able to get a win with Verlander on the mound.
Dodgers take a 3-1 lead on a Corey Seager 2-run homer!
Astros 1-3 Dodgers, botttom of 6th
After getting Utley to fly out to right and then pinch hitter Andre Ethier to fly out to center, Verlander then walked Chris Taylor before giving up a blast to Corey Seager.
Verlander is trailing for the first time this postseason and the Astros are in deep trouble.
Updated
The sun has now set in Los Angeles and it’s 84F/29C. Oh ... and it’s October 25th.
Astros 1-1 Dodgers, end of Top 6th
Well, that couldn’t have gone better for the Dodgers. Watson threw one pitch and McCann grounded into a double play. On to the bottom of the 6th.
Tony Watson is in to relieve Kenta Maeda.
Watson, a lefty, will open against Brian McCann. There is one out with Correa on first.
Astros 1-1 Dodgers, top 6th
Correa opened the frame by singling to left, ending Maeda’s streak of 18 consecutive outs this postseason. But then Gurriel popped up to the catcher for the first out of the inning.
Now Maeda is being pulled for a lefty-lefty matchup.
We’re 1.5 games into the 2017 World Series, six runs have been scored and five of them have come via home run.
This is officially 2017 baseball.
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Astros 1-1 Dodgers, end of 5th
Barnes ends the inning by flying out to left, but we’re tied up through five on Pederson’s homer. Verlander through his first bad pitch of the night and paid for it.
Dodgers tie it up on a Joc Pederson home run!
Astros 1-1 Dodgers, bottom of 5th
Verlander opened the 5th with a strikeout of Bellinger on a nasty breaking ball and then Yasiel Puig was retired on a grounder to short. But, then, on a 2-1 count, Joc Pederson deposited a breaking bal lover the left-center wall. Tie game.
That home was LA’s first hit of the night.
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Rich Hill was -- uh -- not happy about getting taken out. pic.twitter.com/PZtnIAHQe9
— Justin Russo (@FlyByKnite) October 26, 2017
Astros 1-0 Dodgers, end of Top 5th
Rich Hill wasn’t happy about being taken out of the game, but Maeda kept Houston in check. Springer was retired on a deep fly to center and then Bregman followed with a deep fly out to left. Jose Altuve made the third out, hitting a pop fly foul out to Puig down the right field line. He’s now 0-for-3 on the night with 2 Ks and has seen only 8 pitches.
Kenta Maeda is in to relieve Dodgers starter Rich Hill.
Hill’s night is over after 60 pitches and 42 strikes. He have up 3 hits, 3 walks, 1 R/ER in 4 innings, while striking out 7. He kept his team in the game with Verlander on the mound. That’s all the Dodgers wanted.
Astros 1-0 Dodgers, end of 4th
Well, so much for that. Corey Seager hit into a fielder’s choice and then Justin Turner grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. Mini-threat over. Verlander has still faced the minimum through four innings.
Kenta Maeda was warming in LA’s bullpen throughout that half inning. He could be entering here for Rich Hill.
Dodgers get their first base runner of the night.
Astros 1-0 Dodgers, bottom of 4th
Verlander is making his second run through LA’s lineup and has his first hiccup of the night. After getting Chris Taylor down 0-2 to start, he walked him, missing badly on ball four.
Celebrities at Game 2 of the World Series: Peyton, Tiger & John Daly (📷 by wguyening/Instagram) pic.twitter.com/Dh3hjKowJr
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) October 26, 2017
Astros 1-0 Dodgers, end of Top 4
Gurriel opened the inning by drawing a walk on a full count and then advanced to second on a passed ball. McCann left him there on a shallow fly to right, prompting Yasiel Puig to uncork a laser to third, daring Gurriel to tag up. (He did not.)
Gonzalez then made out No. 2, watching an 89mph fastball pass by. Hill then gave Reddick and intentional walk to face Verlander ... who then promptly struck out on three pitches.
The inning looked rough for Hill, he’s at 60 pitches and labored a bit, but no damage was done. The soft-tossed has 7 Ks through 4 innings.
Astros 1-0 Dodgers, end of 3rd
Another very quick inning for Verlander. Barnes flied out to left, Chase Utley ripped a liner a couple feet above Altuve, who leaped and snagged it, and then Rich Hill attempted a bunt single, but was retired with Verlander covering first. He’s perfect through three innings.
Update: after further review, the RBI hit didn’t bounce off of Taylor head ... it merely hit the bill of his hat. Taylor has to feel good about that.
Astros 1-0 Dodgers, end of Top 3
Hill battles back by striking out Jose Altuve looking. That’s 2 Ks on the night already for Altuve, each on three pitches. And then Hill put down Correa on three pithches, as well.
Houston takes the lead, by L.A. has to feel good it’s only 1-0.
Astros take a 1-0 lead!
Josh Reddick opened the inning on a grounder between first and second that Chase Utley should have handled. But it was ruled a hit. Then Justin Verlander sacrificed his teammate to second on a bunt.
George Springer made it first and third with one out on a hard liner to left and Bregman followed with a hard single that bounced off the head of a diving Taylor.
Luckily for LA, the deflected ball bounced right to Dodgers left fielder Joc Pederson, or Springer likely would have scored, too.
As it is now, first and third, one out, Jose Altuve at the plate.
Updated
Astros 0-0 Dodgers, end of 2nd
Verlander is rolling. Cody Bellinger struck out on a big breaking ball for the first out and then jammed Yasiel Puig on a weak pop out for out No. 2. Joc Pederson ended the Dodgers’ frame looking on a strike-three curve.
Through 2 innings, Verlander has 4 Ks on just 24 pitches. Hard to do much better than that.
Astros 0-0 Dodgers, end of Top 2
Yulieski Gurriel lined out to left-center on the first pitch to open the 2nd, followed by Brian McCann K’ing on five pitches on a high fastball. Marwin Gonzalez then ended this half of the inning with a strikeout on a full count.
Hill has been good wild so far at the top of the strike zone, getting the Astros to chase pitches. He has 3 Ks through two innings. We’ve got the early stages of another pitching duel.
Here’s the full video of Scully’s first pitch/not first pitch. A great baseball moment.
CHILLS. Vin Scully throws out the first pitch with some help from Fernando Valenzuela. #ITFDB https://t.co/HhMcHShkGX
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 26, 2017
Astros 0-0 Dodgers, end of 1st
No opening home run by Chris Taylor tonight, who Verlander sat down with a strikeout on five pitches. Corey Seager was then K’d on four pitches and Justin Turner — last night’s hitting hero — was retired on two pitches, skying a high fly ball to center.
No signs of nerves from Verlander.
Updated
Astros 0-0 Dodgers, end of Top 1
After walking Springer, Hill fell down 3-1 to Bregman, but got him to hit a pop-up foul to the catcher for the first out and then K’d Jose Altuve on three pitches for out No. 2. Carlos Correa got the third out on an 0-2 fly to right field. Nice job by Hill battling back after a rough first batter and a half.
The Dodgers get their first hacks of the night against Verlander next.
Astros 0-0 Dodgers, top of the 1st
Rich Hill opened with a 7-pitch walk to George Springer, missing badly on balls three and four. Alex Bregman in now at-bat with no out.
First pitch! We’re underway!
Rich Hill opens with an 89 mph ball to George Springer. Here we go.
Awesome: Vin Scully on TV pic.twitter.com/XKyAXcHBT9
— Steve Kopack (@SteveKopack) October 26, 2017
Scully, feigning a rotator cuff injury, has handed his first pitch duties over to Dodgers legend Fernando Valenzuela.
Vin Scully is now throwing out the first pitch. No matter what else happens tonight, this will be the biggest ovation of the night.
Tonight’s game will open at 92F/33C. The players might feel a bit cold after last night’s conditions.
Country singer Brad Paisley is now singing the national anthem. A country performer would fit a little better in Houston than L.A., but no one ever accused MLB of perfectly nailing marketing.
Here is Houston’s dugout scorecard for tonight.
World Series Game 2#EarnHistory pic.twitter.com/O11Uilshu8
— Houston Astros (@astros) October 25, 2017
Note the names at the bottom-right. Keuchel is obviously not available tonight because he pitches last night, while A.J. Hinch announced today that Lance McCullers will start Game 3 and Charlie Morton Game 4.
Despite Game 1 being a quick and entertaining matchup between two huge market teams with more than 100 wins on the season, TV ratings were down.
No shock here. Fox draws 10.2 overnight rating for Astros-Dodgers, down 19% from Cubs-Indians opener in 2016. Down 3% from Royals-Mets 2015
— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) October 25, 2017
None of the players kneeled for the national anthem and the game was broadcast on FOX. Weird the president hasn’t tweeted about the low ratings. So. Weird.
Tonight’s pitching match-up features two guys with very different careers. Verlander is a power pitcher who has been an ace at every stop. Rich Hill is a 36-year older journeyman whose fastball only lands around 90 mph. But Hill’s curve makes him a challenge and it will be interesting to see how some of Houston’s young hitters deal with it.
Justin Turner continued his remarkable postseason last night with a 2-run home run that proved to be the big winner. It was a shot that many baseball fans won’t soon forget, just as this is a GIF that many won’t soon forget.
Justin Turner's transformation is incredible in GIF form https://t.co/0bS5DNr1GY pic.twitter.com/aLc6L1sLIj
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) October 19, 2017
Last night was obviously a great evening for the Dodgers. But it could have gone better for their utility man.
For those wondering how I celebrated winning Game 1 of the #WorldSeries. I had to get in the tub with my pup who was covered in his own 💩! 🦇
— Enrique Hernández (@kikehndez) October 25, 2017
The Astros are actually favored to win tonight’s game on the road, which is evidence of how good starting pitcher Justin Verlander has been since coming to Houston: 8-0 in 8 games, with a 1.23 ERA and a .171 opponent batting average.
But Verlander also has some of the postseason baggage that Kershaw had entering last night. (Baggage Kershaw no longer carries.) He is 0-3 in his career in the World Series.
Welcome to The Guardian liveblog for Game 2 of the 2017 World Series!
The Dodgers enter tonight’s game with a 1-0 lead in the series after Clayton Keyshaw outdueled Dallas Keuchel in Game 1. Probably even more remarkable than the outstanding pitching we saw: the game ended in just 2 hours, 28 minutes, a postseason baseball miracle.
Please feel free to join in tonight’s liveblog by tweeting to me at @DJGalloEtc or via e-mail. Let’s play ball (in approximately 50 minutes)!
Tonight's starting lineups
Here’s a look at tonight’s lineups. No changes for the Astros’ one through eight hitters, while Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has moved Corey Seager back up to the No2 slot and plugged in Joc Pederson and Chase Utley.
Houston Astros
- George Springer, CF
- Alex Bregman, 3B
- Jose Altuve, 2B
- Carlos Correa, SS
- Yuli Gurriel, 1B
- Brian McCann, C
- Marwin Gonzalez, LF
- Josh Reddick, RF
- Justin Verlander, RHP
Los Angeles Dodgers
- Chris Taylor, CF
- Corey Seager, SS
- Justin Turner, 3B
- Cody Bellinger, 1B
- Yasiel Puig, RF
- Joc Pederson, LF
- Austin Barnes, C
- Chase Utley, 2B
- Rich Hill, LHP
DJ will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s a look back at Joseph D’Hippolito’s report from last night’s Game 1.
