Before the start of the game and the singing of the National Anthem, there was a moment of silence for the victims of the tragedy in New York City earlier in the day.
In the afternoon, a truck drove down a busy bicycle path in Manhattan near the World Trade Center, resulting in eight deadly casualties and injuring many others.
...Tommy Lasorda with Grand Slam-...
...webmaster Marco Stoovelaar during...
...Spring Training 1998 in Dodger Town...
...in Vero Beach, Florida (USA)...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
The ceremonial first pitch was thrown by two Dodger-greats, Tommy Lasorda and Orel Hershiser.
Legendary Tommy Lasorda, who turned 90 in September, who is now active in his 68th season with the Dodgers, which is the longest tenure by anyone within the organization.
Lasorda, who was elected into the Hall of Fame in 1997, played for the Dodgers in 1954-1955, but is best known as its Manager from 1976 through 1996.
In 1973, Lasorda became the 3B Coach in the staff of Walter Alston, another legendary Manager in Dodger-history, who led the team in 1954-1976.
Lasorda led the Dodgers to the World Series-title in 1981 and 1988 and was named Manager of the Year twice.
In 2000, Lasorda came out of retirement to be the Manager of Team USA during the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney (Australia), leading the team to the Gold Medal.
Since 2004, Lasorda is a Special Advisor to the Chairman for the Dodgers, which includes scouting, evaluating and instructing minor league-players, but also being an ambassador and representative for the organization.
Orel Hershiser pitched for the Dodgers in 1983-1994, then again in 2000, before retiring after that season.
In between, he played for Cleveland Indians (1995-1997), San Francisco Giants (1998) and New York Mets (1999).
Hershiser won the World Series with the Dodgers in 1988.
In that year, he was named Most Valuable Player of both the League Championship Series, as well as the World Series and also won the Cy Young Award.
In the top of the first inning, Dodger-starter Rich Hill began by striking out George Springer, but then gave up a single to Alex Bregman, who was the hero for Houston in the thrilling Game 5 when he singled in the winning run in the tenth inning.
Hill followed by striking out José Altuve.
The inning ended when Bregman was forced out on a grounder by Carlos Correa.
Houston-starter Justin Verlander retired the side in his first inning, needing only seven pitches.
He threw five of these pitches on Corey Seager, who struckout.
In the second inning, Los Angeles also got its first basehit, when Yasiel Puig singled with one out, but he stranded on first base.
Houston opened the score in the top of the third inning when George Springer homered with two outs.
In following innings, Springer's homerun remained the lone run, while Houston got the bases loaded in the fifth inning.
Justin Verlander retired the side again in the third and fourth inning, striking out two hitters in both at bats to raise his total to seven.
Rich Hill also retired the side in the top of the fourth, but then got three baserunners in the fifth.
Brian McCann led off with a single, then Marwin Gonzalez followed with a double.
Hereafter, Hill struckout Josh Reddick and Justin Verlander.
With first base open and to set up a force play, next hitter George Springer was walked intentionally.
That brought out Manager Dave Roberts to make a pitching change.
With the bases loaded, Hill was relieved by Brandon Morrow, who got an inning-ending grounder from Alex Bregman.
In Game 2, Hill was relieved after four innings, despite having a good outing.
After avoiding giving up runs in the top of the fifth, the Dodgers were retired in order again in its fifth by Verlander, who struckout his eighth hitter and dominated once more.
Houston got into scoring position again in the top of the sixth off of Morrow.
With two outs, Yulieski Gurriel singled, which was followed by a double switch.
Tony Watson took over the pitching, while Chase Utley became the new second baseman.
Watson hit Brian McCann with a pitch, which moved Gurriel to second base.
But the inning then ended when Utley caught a line drive from Marwin Gonzalez.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Dodgers reached base again for the first time since the second inning.
After having retired eleven consecutive hitters, Justin Verlander gave up a lead-off single to Austin Barnes.
Hereafter, Verlander hit veteran Chase Utley with a pitch to put the Dodgers into scoring position for the first time tonight.
Chris Taylor followed with a double down the rightfield-line to erase the zero, as Barnes scored the tying run.
Corey Seager then drove the ball into deep rightfield, where Josh Reddick caught it just in front of the wall.
However, with his drive, he brought in Utley with the go-ahead run, making it a sacrifice fly.
With Taylor on third base, Justin Turner popped out into foul territory.
Verlander closed by striking out Cody Bellinger, but the Dodgers led 2-1.
...Kenley Jansen earned a 6-out save...
...On the photo, he pitches for the Neterlands vs. Puerto Rico...
...in the Semi-Final of the 2017 World Baseball Classic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the top of the seventh, the Dodger-defense again did very well.
Josh Reddick led off with a walk, which was followed by a pitching change.
Kenta Maeda took over, then Reddick was forced out on a grounder by pinch-hitter Evan Gattis.
A challenge followed to see whether Reddick had interfered during his sliding at second base, but that wasn't the case.
Herefater, George Springer singled to bring Gattis to second base, who then was replaced by pinch-runner Derek Fisher.
With two runners on base, Alex Bregman flied out, then the inning ended when José Altuve grounded out, thanks to a great play by third baseman Justin Turner and first baseman Cody Bellinger.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Joe Musgrove became the new pitcher for Houston.
He gave up an one-out homerun to Joc Pederson, which provided the Dodgers with an insurance run.
In the top of the eighth, closer Kenley Jansen took the mound for the Dodgers and retired the side.
In the bottom of the eighth, Houston also began with a new pitcher, as Luke Gregerson took over from Joe Musgrove.
He was greeted with a lead-off single by Charlie Culberson, who had entered the game in the top of the eighth as new second baseman.
Hereafter, Houston's third baseman Alex Bregman made a great play on a hard grounder down the leftfield-line from Chris Taylor.
Bregman retired Taylor, but it also brought Culberson to second base.
Gregerson followed with a strikeout for Corey Seager, but the Dodgers got another baserunner when Justin Turner walked.
That was followed by another pitching change, as Francisco Liriano was brought in.
The 34-year old lefthanded Dominican joined the Astros on July 31 in a trade with Toronto Blue Jays, a month before Justin Verlander came to Houston.
Liriano made his first appearance in the Series and struckout Cody Bellinger for the fourth time tonight to close the at bat.
After a long wait in the bottom of the eighth, Kenley Jansen returned to the mound in the top of the ninth.
The Curaçao-born, Dutch righthander saw lead-off hitter Marwin Gonzalez pop out to first baseman Cody Bellinger.
Jansen then struckout Josh Reddick and pinch-hitter Carlos Beltrán to end the game and earn a 6-out save!
With that, the Dodgers made it a 3-3 tie in the Series and forced an all-deciding seventh game!
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Strong Dodgers and Jansen force 7th game in World Series!
LOS ANGELES, California (USA) -
A strong-playing Los Angeles Dodgers turned an 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 victory against Houston Astros in Game 6 of the World Series to force an all-deciding seventh game!
With the win, the Dodgers evened the Series again at 3-3.
On Sunday, Houston won 13-12 in Game 5, which was a bizarre and exciting Hitchcockian thriller that took 10 innings and more than five hours.
The game featured 28 basehits and seven homeruns, but ended with a walk-off single by Alex Bregman.
With the win, Houston took a 3-2 lead.
