Atlanta Braves Drop Game Five of the World Series to the Astros

The Atlanta Braves took the field at Truist Park for the last time in the 2021 season as they looked to earn their first World Series Championship since 1995 with a victory over the Houston Astros.

After winning their first seven postseason games at home this year, the Atlanta Braves looked to end their 2021 season with a perfect record at home in the playoffs and a World Series Championship trophy.

But the Houston Astros had other plans.

The game started promisingly enough as Adam Duvall seemed to get the party started early when he blasted a grand slam into the right-field seats off of Astros starter, Framber Valdez, giving the Braves a quick 4-0 lead.

However, the Astros are not the type of team to go quietly and they went to work right away in the top of the second inning.  After a one-out single by Yuli Gurriel, Davidson walked Kyle Tucker, bring up Alex Bregman.

Bregman knocked a 2-2 pitch into center field for an RBI double cutting the lead to 4-1.  The Astros would tack on a sacrifice fly to score another run just like that the lead was cut in half.

The Braves went into the third with Tucker Davidson still on the mound even though he labored through the second inning.

The first two hitters in the top of the third would reach via a Dansby Swanson error and a third  Tucker Davidson walk and that would signal the end of the night for the young left-hander.

Jesse Chavez entered the game and allowed both of the inherited runners to score to tie up the ball game at four.

Freddie Freeman led off the bottom of the third with an absolute bomb into right-center field, giving the Braves a 5-4 lead and got the crowd right back into it, as the Braves seemed to steal back momentum.

The game turned in the fifth inning when the Astros were finally able to break through against the back end of the Braves bullpen when they struck for three runs off of A.J. Minter.

With runners on second and third and two out, Brian Snitker chose to load the bases by intentionally walking a struggling Alex Bregman to get to light-hitting catcher Martin Maldonado.

Maldonado would crowd the plate on Minter, which clearly threw Minter off and Maldonado drew a bases-loaded walk, putting the Astros up 5-4.

Marwin Gonzalez extended the Astros lead with a bloop pinch-hit single that plated two more runs and A.J. Minter exited the game in favor of Chris Martin with the Braves suddenly trailing 7-5.

With the Braves on the losing end of the tally, Brian Snitker chose to save his power arms for Game 6 and a possible Game 7 and went to Drew Smyly hoping to keep the deficit at two.

Smyly struggled through the seventh and eighth, allowing the Astros to add on two more runs.  And after having a four-run lead after one inning, the Braves found themselves down four runs entering the bottom of the eighth.

Atlanta never really threatened again as the Astros staved off elimination in Game 5 and sent this World Series back to Houston for at least one more game.

The Atlanta Braves dropped Game 5 of the World Series 9-5 to the Houston Astros.

While I know Braves fans desperately wanted to close out this World Series at home because of how cursed Atlanta sports seem to be, there is still good news.

If heading into Game 3 of the World Series you would have told me that the Braves were going to start Dylan Lee and Tucker Davidson in Games 4 and 5, and the Braves were going to lead in the series 3-2 after five games I would have taken it.

Yes, this series is heading back to Houston.  And yes, the Astros are a very, very good team that is even better at Minute Maid Park, but the Braves have Max Fried and Ian Anderson set to go on normal rest for Games 6 and 7 respectively.

The Braves have been a very good road team this year.  The Braves were 46-35 on the road this year and are 3-4 on the road in the playoffs.

They have already proved they can win at Minute Maid and they will have two more chances to win one more game there.

The Braves have gone through test after test this year.

They lost Ronald Acuna Jr, Marcell Ozuna, Mike Soroka, and Charlie Morton this year, but this team just keeps on coming.

They got matched up with arguably the best pitching staff in baseball in the Milwaukee Brewers in the division series and won.

The Braves would then get the defending World Series Champion, Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS and the Braves took care of that challenge.

And now, probably the most talented team in baseball, the Houston Astros are the current challenge these Atlanta Braves are facing.

It is impossible to say how these last one or two games will play out.

But win or lose, this Atlanta Braves team deserves to be applauded for the fantastic season they have given us.