*Photo from Boston Globe*
Atlanta leads series 1-0
Charlie Morton was helped off the field after striking out Jose Altuve. His great outing was suddenly cut short. But if there's one thing the Atlanta Braves have done all season, it's overcome adversity. Jorge Soler homered, Adam Duvall homered, and the Braves defeated the Houston Astros 6-2 on Tuesday night.
Braves manager Brian Snitker wasn't worried about the team's response to losing Morton, saying that "We've been through this many times this year. Losing key components to our club. I mean, really key components. We're going to continue. It's not going to be an excuse or anything else. We're going to go out and continue to try and win games."
On the flip side of things, Soler's home run came in the first inning. Soler was batting leadoff, as the DH in the AL park. This allowed Soler's home run to be the first ever home run in the first plate appearance of any world series in baseball history. Since the Braves are the road team, the last time that a team has won a world series game at home is game 3 of the 2018 World Series between the Red Sox and Dodgers, that took 18 innings.
After Soler started the party with a homer, Austin Riley made it 2-0 Braves before Morton even took the mound, lacing an RBI double to the left center field gap. In the second, Travis D'Arnaud scored on a fielders choice to increase the lead to 3-0. In the 3rd, Duvall obliterated a two run home run to left field to make it 5-0 and give the Braves a comfortable lead.
In the 4th inning, the Astros got on the board, when Kyle Tucker scored on a fielders choice and error, making it a 5-1 lead for the Braves. It remained that way until the top of the 8th, when Dansby Swanson scored on a Freddie Freeman sac fly to make it 6-1. Yordan Alvarez scored on a Carlos Correa groundout in the bottom of the 8th to make it 6-2, but the Astros couldn't score any more.
Snitker said of the opening game win that "Against this club here, I'd rather get a 5-0 lead after the seventh inning than when we did, because they have so much time to come back and it's such a dangerous team. They've been through these wars, and they're so dangerous, and they're so relentless, which makes it even more special to me in what our bullpen did."
AJ Minter got the win for the Braves, throwing a gutsy 2 2/3 innings in immediate relief of Morton, who left after 2 1/3 innings. Minter allowed one run on 3 hits, while striking out 3 hitters. After Minter left, Luke Jackson pitched 1 2/3 innings, Tyler Matzek went 1 1/3 innings, and Will Smith delivered a scoreless 9th inning to shut the Astros down for good.
For the Astros, it was a short start for Framber Valdez, being lifted in the 3rd inning without getting an out. He was tagged for 5 runs on 8 hits and one walk, striking out just two hitters. Yimi Garcia finished the 3rd for Valdez, followed by 2 1/3 innings for Odorizzi, one inning for Phil Maton and Ryne Stanek, and 1 2/3 innings from Brooks Raley.
Valdez said of his rough world series outing that "It was just the emotion of the situation, being the starter for Game 1 of the World Series, being the starter for the Astros in the World Series. I think it was that more than anything else. It was maybe trying to do a bit too much, throwing a bit too hard."
Game two is on Wednesday night in Houston, with Max Fried starting for the Braves, and Jose Urquidy taking the mound for the Astros.
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