The Braves continue to refine their post-season formula for success.
Work in trouble and get rid of problems on the hill, get stuck by runners and suppress your opponent’s options.
Use their stock market early and often, relying on a group affectionately dubbed “Nightshift”.
Then – especially at Truist Park games – wait for the magic of the late game on the plate.
He succeeded in a division series against the Milwaukee Brewers, winning the winning game in Freddie Freeman’s home game in the eighth inning.
It succeeded against the Dodgers when, in the first two games, they took control of the series with consecutive outages and created an advantage that the defending champions could not beat.
And on Saturday night, in front of the largest crowd of playoffs in the history of their stadium, they also acted against the Houston Astros in the 4th game of the World Series.
After falling behind in the first six innings, the Braves jumped to the forefront at the bottom of the seventh after consecutive home games between Dansby Swanson and Jorge Soler, retaining a 3-2 win and moving on to one win of their first championship. since 1995.
The Braves have never in their World Series history achieved consecutive home games before Saturday, when Swanson equalized to 2-2 by hitting the opposing field and Soler pinched a 107 mph laser just over the short fence on the left.
But again, the Braves have never had a team like the one that won just 88 games in the regular season, losing top player Ronaldo Acuña Jr. and one of Mike Soroka’s top pitchers due to injuries and was under .500 for the first four months.
In the regular part, however, they burned. And by this October, they hadn’t cooled down yet, as they took three games against one in the Fall Classic with their second home game on Sunday.
The Astros had a chance to postpone Saturday’s game early.
Braves first baseman Dylan Lee loaded bases in the first. But reliever Kyle Wright was invited, allowing only one run. The Astros recharged their bases in the third, but decided to let pitcher Zack Greinke score with two outs. He rolled into the ground that retreated away.
In this series, the Astros are only four for 31 and the runners are in the scoring position. Overall this season, Braves players keep opponents at an average of 0.172 shots in such situations – one of the keys to their
NLCS wins over Dodgers.
Greinke was sharp for Astros in a four-goal draw – his first no-post after a season since the 2014 NLDS game with the Dodgers – and came out with a 2-0 lead after José Altuve hit the home side’s solo at the top of the fourth.
But Astros bulpen couldn’t finish it.
The Braves halved the deficit in sixth on Austin Riley’s RBI single. One game later, Swanson and Soler broke through a crowd of 43,125 people.