And you can read a full report from Game 4 here:
Final thoughts
Enormous gut check from the Dodgers. Can't understate the gravity of their performance with so much on the line in a tough park @HunterFelt
— David Lengel (@LengelDavid) October 29, 2017
I honestly didn’t think the Dodgers had a chance when they gave up that first run. That’s really been this World Series though: every time you think you’ve figured out how it’s going to go, it throws a curveball at you. It makes tomorrow’s Game 5 a complete and utter question mark. We’ll be liveblogging it here at the Guardian and hope you’ll be here too. This will end our live coverage for today, thanks everyone who followed Game 4 with us. Ciao!
The Los Angeles Dodgers have tied the World Series 2-2!
Dodgers win!
Dodgers 6-2 Astros, FINAL
Well that’s one way to avoid being the last out. Here comes Altuve who takes a pitch and then hits one deep, but not deep enough, to centerfield.And that ends the ballgame. The Dodgers win!
Bregman hits a home run! Dodgers 6-2 Astros, bottom 9th
Bregman takes a first pitch ball. 1-0. Then he swings and misses at a cutter. 1-1. He fouls the next pitch off. 1-2. And he fouls off the next one. And he hits a home run off a breaking ball. Well then.
Dodgers 6-1 Astros, bottom 9th
Jansen gets ahead of Springer 0-2, but he takes the next two before he swings and misses at a ball out of the zone. The Dodgers are an out away from evening up the series.
Dodgers 6-1 Astros, bottom 9th
Kenley Jansen probably thought he would be in a more high-pressure situation the next time he appeared on the mound. He’s not complaining. McCann attempts to bunt his way on and it… doesn’t go well. He grounds out to third on Jansen’s first pitch.
Dodgers 6-1 Astros, top 9th
Hernandez lines out to end the inning but the damage has been more than done.
Pederson home run! Dodgers 6-1 Astros, top 9th
Huge insurance run. Pederson is up with two down and runners on the corner. He could make it even more comfortable for the Dodgers…
AND HE DOES! HE HITS A THREE RUN HOME RUN!
Barnes hits a sacrifice fly! Dodgers 3-1 Astros, top 9th
So, bases loaded, one out, Austin Barnes at the plate. Barnes swings and misses at Musgrove’s first pitch. 0-1 Musgrove throws a slider off the plate. 1-1. Fastball, too low. 2-1. Barnes fouls off the next pitch. 2-2. Barnes hits the next ball a long way, but just foul. Still 2-2. He hits a fastball just deep enough for Culberson to score and Bellinger to make third.
Dodgers 2-1 Astros, top 9th
Joe Musgrove is up and he’s pitching to Puig. Meanwhile, Charlie Culberson is pinch-running for Justin Turner at third. Musgrove gets Puig to strike out swinging. That’s one down. And they’re going to just walk Forsythe intentionally.
And Hinch is taking out Giles. There’s going to be fans questioning why he was there in the first place.
Hey I got a prediction right! “I’m going to throw out another prediction here: Cody Bellinger will not just make contact today, after striking out four times last night, he will have a multiple hit game. I am basing this on absolutely nothing other than the fact that it would be funny.”
This was not so funny for Astros fans.
Bellinger doubles in Seager! Dodgers 2-1 Astros, top 9th
Bellinger’s up now. Hey, Giles throws a ball and Bellinger hits the next pitch for yet another double! Seager scores! Turner hits third!
Dodgers 1-1 Astros, top 9th
Giles pitches to Justin Turner… and he throws three straight balls, including a fastball that bounces. Turner swings and misses at a high fastball. Feels like that should have been a take.
Well, the next pitch is a fastball outside, so it didn’t really matter.So the Astros have put on the first two batters in the ninth.
Dodgers 1-1 Astros, top 9th
Ken Giles is pitching for the Dodgers and Seager welcomes him with a single. Well, here comes the 9th inning everyone.
Dodgers 1-1 Astros, bottom 8th
Gonzalez manages to get Watson to throw twice as many pitches, but he ends up hitting a soft liner to second. That’s eight innings in the books and we’re somehow tied up 1-1. Baseball is weird.
Dodgers 1-1 Astros, bottom 8th
Tom Watson comes in and with three pitches he gets Reddick to foul out and Gattis to ground out to second.
These fans are wearing Devo hats while "Devo" is pitching. Beautiful. pic.twitter.com/6luc0RGPa9
— Cespedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) October 29, 2017
It’s their duty now for the future.
Dodgers 1-1 Astros, top 8th
And Hernandez flies out. Devenski gets Taylor into a 1-2 count. He takes a pitch and then grounds out in a close play. The Dodgers briefly contemplate having another look at the play, but wisely decide not to when they realize he’s definitely out.
Dodgers 1-1 Astros, top 8th
Chris Devenski is in to pitch for Houston. He’ll be facing Pederson… and he’ll be striking out Pederson, although Pederson doesn’t completely agree with the call.
Dodgers 1-1 Astros, bottom 7th
Correa lines out and this inning’s down to Gurriel who hits a routine fly to center. That’s seven innings down and we’re deadlocked again.
Dodgers 1-1 Astros, bottom 7th
Well I genuinely have no clue where this one’s going. Not that I ever really did, but before the Dodgers scored I could at least fake it. Morrow is back out to face Altuve and he… keeps throwing pitches out of the zone. Altuve takes a strike and then fouls a ball off so we’ve hit a full count here.
And Altuve grounds out.
Dodgers 1-1 Astros, top 7th
Harris falls behind Barnes 2-0. Barnes takes a strike and then grounds out to short to end the inning. But we’re tied once again.
Forsythe singles in Bellinger! Dodgers 1-1 Astros, top 7th
Forsythe is up with two outs and a runner on second. He takes Harris’s first two pitches for balls. On 2-0, he hits a single and Bellinger comes around to score! Tie game!
Dodgers 0-1 Astros, top 7th
Right-hander Will Harris comes out to face Puig. Puig takes a fastball for strike one. He hits the second pitch and flies out to right. Bellinger doesn’t advance.
Hinch apparently had an “if Bellinger actually reaches base, it’s time to the pull the pitcher” rule in place because he comes out to lift Morton, who gets a huge (deserved) ovation from the fans in Houston.
Dodgers 0-1 Astros, top 7th
BELLINGER GETS A HIT! EXTRA BASES! HE HITS A DOUBLE OVER GONZALEZ’S HEAD! IT ACTUALLY HAPPENED!
Dodgers 0-1 Astros, top 7th
A one-run lead shouldn’t feel this insurmountable, but the Dodgers’ offense has just been sputtering so badly these last few games. Maybe Justin Turner could… nope Bregman throws him out in a bang-bang play at the plate and here comes the Ghost Of Cody Bellinger.
Dodgers 0-1 Astros, bottom 6th
Brandon Morrow is now up. He’s here to face Bregman with two out. He gets him to ground out to get out of the inning. But Houston has the lead.
And here comes Dave Roberts to remove Alex Wood. One pitch earlier he was throwing a no-hitter. Now he’s on hook to be the losing pitcher in a World Series game. Baseball is really, really cruel.
George Springer home run! Dodgers 0-1 Astros, bottom 6th
Alex Wood gets McCann to strike out. Then Springer gets him to throw three straight balls. On 3-0, Wood throws one right down the middle. 3-1. On 3-1…. Springer hits a home run!
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, bottom 6th
Alex Wood is pitching a no-hitter in the World Series and yet I still feel bad for the guy.
Marwin Gonzalez grounds out.
That's AJ Hinch managing with a series lead, allowing his starter to do his job, exactly what Roberts didn't do in Game 2. @HunterFelt
— David Lengel (@LengelDavid) October 29, 2017
If the Dodgers lose the series, that game is going to absolutely be looked at as where everything turned.
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, top 6th
And Seager lines out and that’s it. And the Dodgers’ failure to capitalize is reaching e.e. cummings proportions.
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, top 6th
Chris Taylor is up with the first big scoring chance of the game. He takes ball one. And then a strike. 1-1. And then ball 2. 2-1. Taylor swings and grounds out to Bregman who throws out Barnes at home!
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, top 6th
Morton’s command suddenly goes awry while pitching to Hernandez, who takes three straight balls. He takes the next pitch, wisely, but it’s right down the heart of the plate. The next pitch is a called strike and we have a full count. This is now officially one of the most dramatic moments in the game.
Which means that Hernandez hits the next pitch foul and we do this all over again. On the next pitch, Hernandez hits a solid single. Barnes makes his way to third! There’s just one out in the inning.
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, top 6th
Morton gets Pederson down 0-2. Pederson fouls off the next pitch. Still 0-2. He hits the next one, but it’s a lineout to Gonzalez.
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, top 6th
I need to stop predicting things. That’s what this World Series is telling me.
Charlie Morton starting the sixth inning, has thrown only 50 pitches so far. Pitch 51 is a strike. And Pitch 52… hits Barnes close to the elbow.
Well, hey LA, that’s a baserunner! Gotta look at the bright side here.
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, bottom 5th
And my prediction for this inning comes down to Evan Gattis, Gattis falls into a 1-2 hole, but he at least keeps alive by fouling off some good pitches before popping up to the infield and that’s five innings of no-hit baseball for Wood. Unfortunately for him, his team’s offense hasn’t managed much more than his opponent’s.
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, bottom 5th
Okay I’m calling my shot here: the Astros are scoring here in the bottom of the 5th here. Gurriel is the first hitter of the inning, is he going to be the spark once again?
No, he’s going to swing at a changeup after making Wood throw a few pitches. And Josh Reddick isn’t going to do it either, he flies out to left on a single pitch.
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, top 5th
Logan Forsythe falls behind 0-2 and the Houston crowd rises up to will a strikeout and, what do you know, this time it works. Forsythe takes strike three and the Dodgers get blanked again.
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, top 5th
Puig grounds out yet again. Blink and you’ll miss him.
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, top 5th
Cody Bellinger gets a hanging curve and he just fouls it off. I’m starting to feel bad for the dude. He then swings and misses at the next two pitches. He’s Charlie Morton’s 6th strikeout victim.
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, bottom 4th
And Correa pops up to Forsythe and that’s that for the fourth inning. This game is going really quickly, which probably means that there’s going to be a 8th inning that ends up lasting over an hour.
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, bottom 4th
And Altuve grounds out to Forsythe at second. Nifty play for the second baseman.
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, bottom 4th
Wood facing Bregman again. Bregman lines out to Taylor on a 3-1 pitch. This is still somehow a pitcher’s duel.
Morton through 4... Not one pitch up in the zone pic.twitter.com/59N30peOoZ
— Daren Willman (@darenw) October 29, 2017
This... This is impressive.
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, top 4th
Justin Turner strikes out swinging on four pitches. That’s really, really, really not what the Dodgers needed there.
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, top 4th
Charlie Morton facing Chris Taylor in the matchup that most sounds like a battle between minor British Invasion figures. Morton wins this match as Taylor strikes out swinging. Then he gets Seager to ground out to second.
Captain Obvious says Dodgers have totally stopped hitting: cant have losses in Morton-McCullers starts with uknowho coming. @HunterFelt
— David Lengel (@LengelDavid) October 29, 2017
The longer the Dodgers go without scoring in this game, the more pressure they’re going to fall under, one would seem.
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, bottom 3rd
Springer comes out, and grounds out to Seager to end the inning. This is, um, not quite the game I was expecting.
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, bottom 3rd
Up next is McCann. who falls into a 0-2 hole but manages to work a full count off Wood, before he finally manages to get McCann to swing and miss.
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, bottom 3rd
Marwin Gonzalez is up next. He quickly falls behind 0-2 but Wood can’t put him away, throwing three straight balls out of the zone without getting Gonzalez to chase.
Make that four straight balls as Wood walks Gonzalez.
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, bottom 3rd
Evan Gattis to the plate against Wood. He looks at a strike and then swings and misses at a curve. Not looking incredibly comfortable here. He takes a changeup for a ball and then fouls out to Bellinger at first.
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, top 3rd
Morton strikes out Joc Pederson. Enrique Hernandez is up next. He takes the first two pitches, both called balls. He takes the next two pitches, and they’re called strikes. It’s 2-2. The crowd rises to try to will a strikeout, but the pitch is called a ball. 3-2. The next one? Fastball at the knees, called strike 3. That’s it for the Dodgers this go around.
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, top 3rd
Austin Barnes up for the Dodgers and Morton promptly gets him to ground out. So far this hasn’t looked liked the offensive slugfest I was half-expecting.
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, bottom 2nd
So, the bases are empty for Josh Reddick, who immediately grounds out to Forsythe who throws him out to end the inning. The Dodgers wouldn’t mind a few more innings like that.
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, bottom 2nd
And here is Gurriel, coming out to a somewhat mixed reaction. He fouls off the first ball, takes a pitch and then grounds out into a double play.
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, bottom 2nd
Wood pitching to Carlos Correa to start the bottom of the second and he walks him on five pitches. Houston has its first baserunner.
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, top 2nd
And Forsythe grounds out and that’s it for the Dodgers this inning.
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, top 2nd
Okay, now Bellinger gets his chance to change his World Series fortune…. and he hits a routine flyball to left. Hey it’s contact! He’s getting there!
And Puig comes in and immediately grounds out. A replay shows that he might have fouled it off his own foot. It’s not reviewable.
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, bottom 1st
Up comes Jose Altuve who takes the first two pitches for a ball, then takes a strike and after fouling a few pitches off he grounds out to second base to end the inning.
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, bottom 1st
Alex Bregman is up next. Wood falls behind him 3-1, but gets him to ground out to Seager.
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, bottom 1st
…And the umpires say that it didn’t hit him. So, Springer remains at bat and he flies out. And the Astros are down one challenge already.
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, bottom 1st
Alex Wood is out in what I’m gonna assume is the biggest start of his life. He faces George Springer to start out. Springer swings and misses for strike one. Springer takes ball one and then takes ball two… except he says that the ball actually hit him. The Astros use their challenge here...
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, top 1st
Cody Bellinger doesn’t even get a chance to strike out this time around as Brian McCann throws out Taylor on the basepaths to end the inning.
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, top 1st
Justin Turner is up next. Turner gets ahead of the count 2-1 but then pops up to Correa at short.
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, top 1st
Next up is Corey Seager, who strikes out on three pitches. That’s a better result for Morton.
Game 4 begins!
Dodgers 0-0 Astros, top 1st
Charlie Morton’s first pitch is a strike. His second pitch, is lined by Chris Taylor for a leadoff single.
Alright we’re a few minutes away from actual baseball. Dear players: please no more moronic displays of racism this time around, pretty pretty please?
Big cheers for Yuli Gurriel as the Astros starting lineup was announced before the game.
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughTimes) October 29, 2017
Not incredibly shocking, this.
I’m going to throw out another prediction here: Cody Bellinger will not just make contact today, after striking out four times last night, he will have a multiple hit game. I am basing this on absolutely nothing other than the fact that it would be funny.
Obviously there’s a lot of commentary right now on MLB’s decision to suspend Gurriel for the first five games of next season. Molly Knight’s reaction probably pinpoints the biggest reason why this particular “solution” might have hurt more than it has helped:
Suspending him 5 games in 2018 is actually worse than doing nothing. Manfred is acknowledging Racism is Bad— but World Series more important
— Molly Knight (@molly_knight) October 28, 2017
Predictions
It’s hard not to think that the Dodgers aren’t going to struggle if their starter doesn’t go the distance tonight, so it feels like this is the Astros’ game to win. If I believed in karma, I would say that somehow Alex Wood goes out and throws the game of his life, 7 shutout endings and the Dodgers tie this up.
After living through this last year, I find it impossible to believe in karma. Astros win today,7-2. Your prediction? Email them to hunter.felt.freelance@theguardian.com or tweet them at @HunterFelt.
Houston Astros starters
And no changes for the Astros, partly thanks to Rob Manfred postponing Gurriel’s five game suspension until the start of next season.
1. George Springer, CF
2. Alex Bregman, 3B
3. Jose Altuve, 2B
4. Carlos Correa, SS
5. Yuli Gurriel, 1B
6. Josh Reddick, RF
7. Evan Gattis, DH
8. Marwyn Gonzalez LF
9. Brian McCann, C
LA Dodgers starters
No changes for the Dodgers as far as the starting lineup
1. Chris Taylor, CF
2. Corey Seager, SS
3. Justin Turner, 3B
4. Cody Bellinger, 1B
5. Yasiel Puig, RF
6. Logan Forsythe, 2B
7. Austin Barnes, C
8. Joc Pederson, DH
9. Enrique Hernandez, LF
Preamble
So welcome to Game 4 of the World Series, where the Houston Astros currently have a 2-1 lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers thank to the 1-2 punch of Lance McCullers and Brad Peacock in yesterday’s Game 3.
In tonight’s Game 4 we have the Dodgers going with Alex Wood and the Astros are starting Charlie Morton in what looks to be one of the most “Game 4”-ish pitching matchups in World Series Game 4 history. After the Dodgers unleashed their entire bullpen in order to stay in Game 3, it’s very possible that they could be at a major disadvantage in today’s Game 4 if Wood doesn’t give them a quality start.
Of course, the biggest subplot in today’s game doesn’t really have to do much with baseball. Before the game began, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced that Astros hitter Yuli Gurriel would be suspended for his racist gesture directed at Dodgers pitcher Yu Darvish, but not until the start of next season, so it wouldn’t mess with the integrity of the World Series. In grand MLB tradition, it’s a decision that ended up missing the point while making absolutely nobody on any side of the decision particularly happy. At the very least, it’s added an extra element to a series that wasn’t exactly lacking in storylines in the first place.
As always, this is an interactive experience here at the Guardian. Feel free to contribute by sending your thoughts, questions, jokes, feelings, prophetic dreams and grand predictions either via email (hunter.felt.freelance@theguardian.com) or Twitter (to @HunterFelt). It’s the LA Dodgers an the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park. Our game is set to start at 8:20pm EST, but we’ll be back well before then with lineups, further analysis and other assorted baseball commentary.
Hunter will be here shortly, in the meantime here’s what happened in Game 3:
Yu Darvish came into the contest with one run conceded in each of his previous two postseason starts and a track record of dominance in Houston. On Friday, things went a lot worse – not only did he have a rough time on the mound, he was also the subject to a racist gesture from the Houston Astros’ Yuli Gurriel.
The incident came after Gurriel homered off Darvish, who was born in Osaka to a Japanese mother, in the second inning. Television pictures caught Gurriel making what appeared to be a “slant eye” gesture in the dug-out. Astros manager AJ Hinch said he had been briefed about the incident. “I know he’s remorseful but other than that I don’t know a lot,” he said.
Darvish called the gesture “disrespectful”. After the game, he said: “I’m sure the Astros have Asian fans too ... He made a mistake. He’ll learn from it. We’re all human beings.” He later tweeted that people should learn from the incident rather than blame Gurriel.
You can read the full report below:
