Astros Fall Behind Early, Drop World Series Game 1 To Braves

HOUSTON, TX — Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Charlie Morton was knocked out of the game early, but the damage had already been done to the Houston Astros.

The Braves jumped to a 5-0 lead after three innings and went on to beat the Astros 6-2 in Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday at Minute Maid Park.

Houston trailed before it even came to bat when Braves designated hitter Jorge Soler blasted a leadoff home run in the first inning, the first time in league history the first batter in a World Series hit a home run. Austin Riley doubled in Ozzie Albies later in the inning to make it 2-0.

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Soler added to the lead in the second with a fielder's choice grounder to score Travis d'Arnaud, and Adam Duvall broke the game open in the third with a two-run blast to left to extend the lead to 5-0.

The onslaught left the usually rowdy Minute Maid Park crowd stunned.

"The Braves took a bit out of this crowd in the first three innings," color analyst and Braves pitching legend John Smoltz said on FOX's broadcast.

Morton left the game in the bottom of the third after he struck out Altuve while clearly in pain. Morton had taken a hard-hit ground ball from Astros third baseman Yuli Gurriel off his right leg, fracturing his fibula. He threw 16 more pitches over the second and third innings before leaving.

The Braves announced during the game he was out for the rest of the World Series.

Astros right fielder Kyle Tucker scored on Chas McCormick's fielder's choice grounder in the fourth to make it 5-1, and an error on the play by Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson gave the Astros runners on the corners with one out. Braves reliever A.J. Minter struck out Martin Maldonado and induced a popout from Jose Altuve to get out of the jam.

A Freddie Freeman sacrifice fly made it 6-1 in the top of the eighth. Astros designated hitter Yordan Alvarez tripled and scored on a Carlos Correa groundout in the bottom of the inning to cut it to 6-2. Gurriel followed with a line drive off the wall just short of a home run, but Braves center fielder Eddie Rosario played the ball off the wall and fired to second to nab Gurriel and end the threat.

"The way I look at it is tomorrow is our day," Astros manager Dusty Baker said in the postgame news conference. "Our team doesn't worry, and our team is very confident. They have a knack of bouncing back after tough losses."

The Astros will be looking for some of that magic again after coming back with three straight wins to eliminate the Boston Red Sox after falling down 2-1 in the American League Championship Series.

Game 2 is at 7:09 p.m. at Minute Maid Park with Jose Urquidy starting for the Astros and Max Fried starting for the Braves. The game will be televised by FOX and broadcast on ESPN Radio.

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