Highlights from the Astros’ World Series Game 5 win over the Dodgers

It took 5 hours and 17 minutes* and 10 innings, but the Astros defeated the Dodgers in Game 5 to go ahead 3-2. There were homers, so many homers, and so many lead changes. Dallas Keuchel disappointed Astros’ fans, and then Clayton Kershaw was equally disappointing to Dodgers’ fans, and then both bullpens showed that they’re exhausted and need Monday off to recuperate because the baseball season is so long and all they want to do is sleep.

[Edit: This originally said the 5 hours and 17 minutes was a World Series record, but that would have been for a nine-inning game. I forgot that important bit of context at 1:45 in the morning following a 5 hour and 17 minute game.]

Missed the game? Want to relive it? Here’s our Game 5 live blog, perfectly preserved for your perusal.

As usual, if you want to read the live blog from the beginning, scroll to the “1st inning” header and work your way back up.

10th inning

Joe Musgrove is now pitching for the Astros, presumably because he is neither Francisco Liriano nor Ken Giles. Marwin Gonzalez is now at first base with Gurriel out of the game, and Josh Reddick moved to left, which is why someone at that position just caught a baseball for the Astros.

Maybin is in center, and Springer is in right, so the Astros’ outfield defense just got a lot better. The downside is they don’t have Gurriel in the lineup anymore, and that’s no small thing.

Andre Ethier beats the shift with a single the other way, but Cody Bellinger can’t move him over, as he flies out to center. Two down, Ethier still at first. Ethier almost took out Altuve at second base, but it’s an out all the same, and Altuve seems fine. Ethier checked on the Astros’ second baseman immediately, just so you know.

Here come the Astros to try to walkoff in the bottom of the 10th. It’ll be Gattis, Gonzalez, and McCann this time around, and the top of the lineup if any of them should reach.

Kenley Jansen is still on the mound for the Dodgers, as he threw just 12 pitches in his first inning of work. Gattis grounds out on the fifth pitch of the at-bat, but at least he’s doing his park of making sure Jansen can’t sneak a third inning of work in tonight.

That is important, too, as the broadcast notes that only Josh Fields and Brandon McCarthy are left in the Dodgers’ bullpen. Anyone besides Jansen would be an upgrade for Houston at this point, especially since he just made Gonzalez look silly on a slider that struck him out.

Here’s McCann, who hit the homer that gave the Astros their 12th run, aka the reason they’re still playing right now. Jansen gets him to 2-2, and then that pitch just missed being a game-winning homer: it hooked foul, and Jansen for some reason threw another fastball in following it. This one missed the zone entirely and hit McCann on the arm, though, so the Astros have a runner at first.

McCann says he’s fine, but the trainers are checking on him. And now there’s another Astros runner on, as George Springer walked. One of two things happened there: Jansen pitched around the incredibly dangerous Springer to face Alex Bregman, or, Jansen is tired and throwing in the low 90s and can’t locate at the worst time for all of those things to be happening at once.

The next pitch answers our question: Jansen throws a 92 mph pitch where Bregman can hit it, and Bregman does. The Astros walkoff, 13-12, and they head to Los Angeles leading the World Series, 3-2.

We’ll be back for Game 6 on Tuesday, when Justin Verlander and Rich Hill go at it once again.

9th inning

Chris Devenski is back out for the ninth inning, and the Dodgers will send Cody Bellinger, Logan Forsythe, and Yasiel Puig to face him. Should one of them reach, then Austin Barnes will also get a shot at Devenski.

Devenski starts things off just how Dodgers fans want him to, with a 3-0 count to Bellinger. He then walks him on a 3-1 count, and the tying run now sits on deck.

By the way, this game is now the longest nine-inning World Series games, as Olney’s tweet is almost 30 minutes old already.

Devenski gets a mound visit, but stays in the game. Here’s Forsythe, who goes down 0-2 in a hurry. Forsythe strikes out, which is good news. The bad news is that Francisco Liriano and Ken Giles are warming up in Houston’s bullpen, so if Devenski doesn’t do this thing for the Astros, maybe nobody will.

And Devenski might not do it: Puig just hit a two-run homer, and suddenly, the Astros’ lead is down to one. 12-11, Astros, and the Dodgers have just the one out.

By the way, that homer is the 22nd of this World Series. That’s the new record. It’s Game 5.

Kenley Jansen is warming up in the Dodgers’ bullpen, just in case.

Austin Barnes is in scoring position for Los Angeles after hitting a double to the gap. He got by Altuve’s tag on a decision that took some wheels to justify, and here’s Joc Pederson with a chance to tie the game with a deep enough single.

The count is 2-1 after a pitch that’s been a strike for much of the evening in this super wide strike zone was not called a strike. You know, all I ask for out of a bad strike zone is that it’s consistent in its badness. That makes it more tolerable.

It’s now a 2-2 count after Devenski laid threw 96 down the middle. The Dodgers are down to their last strike, with the tying run 90 feet away.

And Taylor drives the ball up the middle! It’s a tie game, 12-12! Seager flies out after that to end the top of the ninth, but the Dodgers survive to play at least a little more baseball.

Kenley Jansen is coming in for the Dodgers to try to keep this thing tied long enough for Los Angeles to come to bat again. He’ll face Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, and Yuli Gurriel.

Altuve puts a charge in one, but not enough, and Pederson tracks it down in center for the first out. Correa then pops out to Bellinger, who makes a wonderful catch half in the stands. Two outs, and it’s down to Gurriel if the Astros are going to avoid going to extras.

Gurriel tries to end it with one swing, but he has to settle for a wall ball double. The Astros have a runner in scoring position now, so they can win this thing without hitting a dinger. It’s all up to Josh Reddick now.

Cameron Maybin, who won America tacos earlier in the World Series, pinch-runs for Gurriel. It ends up not working out, as Reddick flies out, and we’re on to extra innings.

8th inning

Rejoice in your 11-8 lead, Astros’ fans, but remember: you still have to get the Dodgers out six more times using your bullpen before this is over. It’s an achievable goal for sure, but also one you wouldn’t be shocked to see them fail to reach.

Austin Barnes goes down looking at a strike that seemed a little low, but again: this strike zone is huge. And further replay had it at Barnes’ knees, so he should have been protecting the plate.

Pederson doubles on a fly ball to left, and Peacock is nearing 40 pitches after a lengthy outing just two days ago. This feels like a good chance for the Dodgers to cut the deficit, especially with the top of the order now up.

Taylor gets hit by a pitch, so now it’s first and second, with the tying run coming up in the form of Corey Seager. Hinch has seen enough from Peacock tonight, so here comes Will Harris.

Will Harris be able to stop this Dodgers’ rally?

do you get it

his name is also a word

Marwin Gonzalez sees a ball go over his head, which should be a huge surprise to anyone who has never seen this park and his defense before, and it’s now just 11-9, Astros, with two Dodgers in scoring position and just one out. And Justin Turner is up.

Turner flies out to right, and Taylor thought about taking off for home, but then he remembered Josh Reddick’s arm exists to cut down runners. So, it’s still second and third with two outs, and here is Andre Ethier to pinch-hit.

Oh, apparently it’s much dumber than that, but befitting this extremely dumb (and entertaining) game.

Will Harris won’t be facing Ethier, though, as Chris Devenski is coming into the game. Devenski gets Ethier to ground out, and it’s 11-9, Astros, heading into the bottom of the eighth.

The Dodgers got one in the top half of the inning, but Brian McCann just took it back with — you guessed it! — a homer. It’s now 12-9, Astros, which is probably a good thing since the Astros’ bullpen has to pitch the ninth to actually finish this game off.

The Dodgers are now going with Ross Stripling, a reliever Dave Roberts has shown no or the utmost faith in depending on which day of the World Series it is.

Stripling ends up getting out of things with a double play, so here go the Dodgers trying to score three runs with their final three outs.

Pederson grounds out, but he moves Barnes to third, so now it’s not even going to take a deep single to score him, especially since there are two outs. Here’s Chris Taylor.

7th inning

Here’s Brad Peacock, who AJ Hinch was planning to use after the series shifted to Los Angeles again. What Hinch did not plan for or was trying to pretend wasn’t a distinct, painful possibility is that other Astros’ relievers would take the mound in Peacock’s absence, necessitating the return of the right-hander.

Justin Turner is making Peacock work out of the gate, as he’s got a 3-2 count going and just fouled off the eighth pitch of the at-bat. Pitch number nine ends up going off of the wall in right field, juuuust missing a homer in the process, but Turner ended up with a leadoff double.

No, really, he just missed it.

Okay so, the game us 7-7. The ball has been flying off of the bats all night long, and neither bullpen seems to be able to completely lock things down. So, for some reason, the Dodgers’ cleanup hitter Kiké Hernandez just bunted to try to move Turner from second to third base, but his bunt ends up getting Turner out at third... so the Dodgers gave up an out and lost their lead runner in the process.

And because this game is a disaster, George Springer just misplayed a Cody Bellinger fly ball in center field that let Hernandez score all the way from first, anyway. It’s scored as a triple, and now it’s 8-7, Dodgers.

Forsythe strikes out on a pitch that’s much more of a strike than Forsythe’s protesting would lead you to believe. That’s two down, which eliminates any sac fly opportunities. Instead, Puig’s fly ball here ends the top of the seventh.

It’ll be George Springer leading off the bottom of the seventh, hoping to make up for his gaffe in center that allowed Hernandez to score and give the Dodgers the lead. And he does! That’s a solo shot to tie the game, 8-8.

Springer ruined that baseball, dear lord. It should count for two runs.

I didn’t even have time to tell you that Brandon Morrow is on the mound. And Alex Bregman got a first-pitch hit before I could type that last sentence, too. Here’s Jose Altuve with no outs and Bregman base in this newly-tied game.

Altuve just drove in another run to give the Astros the lead, and it was a big one, as now he’s on third waiting to be driven in by Carlos Correa. 9-8, Astros. And now it’s 11-8 Astros, thanks to Correa hitting a two-run dinger.

So... yeah. That’s the end of Brandon Morrow’s night, which involved four hits, four runs, and no outs.

Here’s Tony Cingrani, who gets Gurriel to strike out swinging, and then punches out Reddick, too. Hey remember half-an-inning ago when the Dodgers were like, “Let’s bunt now, one run will do the trick.”

Watson successfully ends the carnage, and we’re off to the eighth inning with the Dodgers now trailing, 11-8.

6th inning

McHugh is still in, and he starts the sixth off catching Austin Barnes looking. Joc Pederson is pinch-hitting for Charlie Culberson now that Keuchel is out of the game — Culberson was at second base, so there will be some defensive realignments coming in the bottom half of the sixth.

Pederson draws a walk, McHugh’s third of his short outing. That means Taylor and the top of the lineup are back up, and with a runner on. There’s a break for a meeting on the mound, likely to get Brad Peacock more time to warm up. Peacock had success in Game 3 relieving Lance McCullers, picking up a multi-inning save without giving up a hit despite throwing a bunch of fastballs down the middle of the plate.

That plan might have worked since the Dodgers had seen a steady diet of Lance McCullers’ curves before Peacock came in. Maybe it’ll work again in Game 5 because pitches that actually end up within the strike zone will have the Dodgers similarly off-balance.

Anyway, McHugh is still in, trying to finish off the sixth inning so Peacock can start fresh in the seventh, but he has to get Corey Seager out to do that.

McHugh gets strikeout number four, somehow manages not to give up a run here, and we’re on to the bottom of the sixth still tied.

Maeda is still in the game for the Dodgers, even though he gave up a three-run dinger and the left-handed Gattis is now up. He was not in for very long, however: after retiring Reddick and walking Gattis, in comes Tony Watson to replace Maeda. He’ll face Marwin Gonzalez and Brian McCann, and if one of them reaches, George Springer is up for the fourth time tonight.

The second out is a lazy fly out to Puig in right field, and here comes McCann. The Astros’ catcher ends up grounding out, ending the sixth.

5th inning

So I said earlier it’s a “whole new ballgame” now that it’s tied up 4-4, but let’s not forget the Astros are already into their bullpen with at least five innings left for them to pitch.

Here’s Collin McHugh, who started just 12 games for the Astros this year due to injuries. He’s a solid pitcher when he’s actually on the mound, and might be able to give Houston some length here.

Or, he could walk Corey Seager to lead off the fifth and immediately make Astros fans nervous once again. And then go 3-1 on Turner. And then walk Turner. Hey remember back in the first inning of this live blog when I described the Astros’ bullpen as a trash fire?

Kiké Hernandez is out on strikes on a pitch that he cannot believe was a strike, and to be fair, I’m pretty skeptical myself. The strike zone is wide tonight as we’ve discussed, however, and Hernandez didn’t remember to account for that.

Cody Bellinger just made up for the strikeouts once again — he jacks a three-run shot off of McHugh on a 2-2 pitch that caught way too much of the strike zone, and it’s 7-4, Dodgers.

See?

Forsythe flies out to right, and there are two down. Puig follows with a strikeout, and the torture can temporarily subside long enough for the Astros to come to the plate.

Kershaw still looks shaky, as Marwin Gonzalez works a 3-0 count to open the bottom of the fifth. Gonzalez ends up flying out on the 3-1 pitch, bringing up the bottom of the order, Brian McCann. The catcher smacks the 1-1 pitch, but it just goes foul instead of for yet another homer in this series. He ends up getting called out on strikes, just Kershaw’s second punch out of Game 5.

The Astros have no idea what the strike zone is, as Springer just tried to walk to first on what he felt was ball four, just like Marwin Gonzalez did earlier in the inning. It was strike two, though, and Springer is back in the box. He ends up drawing the walk, and the Astros have a runner on with two outs.

Kershaw is up to 85 pitches, and chances are good he’s not going to see the sixth inning. Kenta Maeda is warming up in the Dodgers’ bullpen after taking Game 4 off, presumably for the very right-handed middle of the Astros’ order next inning. Kershaw has to get through Bregman before that plan can be enacted, though.

lol, Astros really should have let Charlie Morton be the first in Game 4

Kershaw ends up walking Bregman, and that’s it for Kershaw: Kenta Maeda is coming in to face the right-handed Jose Altuve with two runners on and two outs.

I have some bad news for you, Dodgers fans reading me instead of watching the game: Kenta Maeda just gave up a three-run homer to Altuve, and we’re tied up again, this time 7-7.

The Astros aren’t done yet, either, as Correa grounds into what should be an inning-ending out, but instead ends up being a single with a throwing error that let him advance to second base.

Gurriel grounds to short, and this time the throw is accurate. The Dodgers get out of it, but not before Houston ties it up. It’s 7-7 after... five? Five innings? I hope I have enough beer for this.

4th inning

It’ll be Cody Bellinger, Logan Forsythe, and Yasiel Puig in the top of the fourth. The Astros put the shift on Bellinger, but it might not be necessary if he’s going to be swinging and missing again — he’s already down 0-2 in this count and struck out his first time up.

Oof, Bellinger strikes out looking on a pitch that looked outside the zone even after McCann framed it up. To be fair, Kershaw got a surprise call on the other side of the strike zone last inning, so this just might be a really wide strike zone tonight.

And there’s another wide strike, so hitters on both teams who are reading this live blog in between innings, pay attention: those balls are strikes in Game 5, and you need to plan accordingly.

Remember, the persistent strike zone on FOX’s broadcast isn’t 100 percent accurate, and Gameday has its issues, but these look pretty well outside even with those thoughts in mind.

Anyway, Logan Forsythe has worked the count to 2-2, and then crushed the next pitch into the gap in left-center for a double. The Dodgers have one down, Yasiel Puig up, and a runner in scoring position.

Forsythe has quietly had a very productive October: that double puts his on-base percentage at .500. Not just for the World Series, mind you, but for the entire postseason.

Yasiel Puig strikes out about the same time we learn Luke Gregerson is warming up in the Astros’ bullpen. Keuchel is at 74 pitches, and even if he’s been pitching better, he only has so many pitches in him in a given start.

Marwin Gonzalez hits, so that’s good, but there are so many moments where he decides he’s just going to let a ball fall in without attempting to catch it. He just had one such moment on a fly ball he probably could have caught had he run diagonally instead of horizontally, and now it’s 4-0, Dodgers.

An infield single means there are now two on with two outs, and that’s the end of Keuchel’s evening. Here comes Luke Gregerson in relief to face Chris Taylor and the top of the order.

Taylor can’t check his swing on a 3-2 count, and Gregerson gets Houston out of the inning. In the bottom of the inning, it’ll be Springer, Bregman, and Altuve once again. Springer draws a walk, and then Bregman works the count to 3-1. This might be the Astros’ opportunity to score runs off of Kershaw, if there’s going to be any situation like that in this game.

Not worry, Dodgers’ fans! Or, to make you worry an extreme amount, depending on how you feel about these sorts of things:

Bregman ends up swinging at what was definitely ball four, harmlessly flying out to left.

Altuve gets a hit that feels long overdue, and it’s suddenly first and second with one out and Carlos Correa coming to the plate. And Correa delivers a one-run double to left field: it’s 4-1, Astros, and they now have two runners in scoring position.

Well, now there’s a review because Correa’s heel might have come 1/16th of an inch off of the second base bag for 1/16th of a second. The call stands, Correa is safe, and now here’s Gurriel with a chance to narrow this gap.

Never mind narrowing the gap, Gurriel closed it completely with a three-run homer: it’s now all tied up at 4-4. Kershaw gets out of the inning without further runs scoring, but it’s a whole new ballgame heading into the fifth.

Oh, and also:

3rd inning

Keuchel is looking better, but he’s also already at 51 pitches and through just 2-1/3 innings as I type this following a Seager groundout, so it might be a short start for him even if he’s his usual self from here on out. Shorter than the Astros’ bullpen might be able to afford, anyway.

Justin Turner helps the Houston cause out a bit with a first-pitch fly out — a few more of those, and maybe Keuchel can rebalance that pitch count and pitch deep into Game 5.

Hernandez grounds out to Keuchel, so it’s another 1-2-3 inning for the Astros’ ace. However, it’s also still 3-0, Dodgers, after two-and-a-half complete.

Evan Gattis steps in to face Clayton Kershaw in a battle of very large human beings who play baseball. Gattis wins this matchup with a single to left-center on a 3-2 pitch that might have been a ball had he let it go. This result was much more exciting for the crowd.

Here’s Marwin Gonzalez, who has some making up for defense to do here with a runner on. It was Gonzalez failing to corral a ball in the outfield that allowed the second run of the game to score, which might have butterfly effected the third run into existence, too.

Gonzalez hits into a double play here, erasing Gattis and getting Kershaw back to facing the minimum. So... Marwin has still got some work to do. McCann ends the inning with a groundout, and it’s 3-0 Dodgers through three.

2nd inning

Keuchel begins the second inning against Austin Barnes, down 3-0, and none of this is what the Astros were hoping for at this point in the game. Barnes flies out, at least, so the second inning is off to a decent start. Charlie Culberson also makes an out, and Keuchel looks mostly back on track.

Here comes Chris Taylor and the top of the Dodgers’ order once more, however. Things go better this time around, with Taylor grounding out to conclude the 1-2-3 inning. Just, like, seven more of those, Houston, and you’ll be fine.

Kershaw sees Keuchel’s easy inning and shows off what he can do, inducing a Carlos Correa groundout in two pitches. Yuli Gurriel lasts a bit longer, but on the sixth pitch of the at-bat, he pops out to Bellinger at first base. That brings up Josh Reddick, who flies out to center for Kershaw’s second 1-2-3 inning in two tries.

Well, this was a brief frame, but the first was super long, so it all evens out!

1st inning

Dallas Keuchel did pretty well against the Dodgers in Game 1. He allowed three runs and lasted 6-2/3 innings, which would have seemed much better than it did if he wasn’t up against Clayton Kershaw having one of the best postseason starts of his life. Given that we got a reminder the Astros’ bullpen is a trash fire when they aren’t using starting pitchers like Brad Peacock or Lance McCullers in relief, Houston might need more innings and fewer runs from Keuchel in Game 5.

That’s asking a lot, sure, but apparently so is asking Ken Giles not to burst into flames when called on to pitch.

Anyway, Keuchel’s journey to putting the Astros back ahead in the World Series begins against Chris Taylor, Corey Seager, and Justin Turner, who is going to be the DH tonight thanks to taking a grounder off of his leg in Game 4.

Like he did in Game 4, Taylor kicks things off with a hit. Maybe Keuchel will now throw . a bunch of hitless innings in a row now, just like Charlie Morton did. That plan is off to a great start, with Keuchel punching out Seager after getting to a full count on him.

Turner follows this with a walk, so Keuchel can’t copy Morton completely. Here’s Kiké Hernandez with two runners on and just the one out. Hernandez is a career .270/.364/.518 hitter against lefties, and batted .270/.367/.579 against them this season, so that’s how he ends up moving up this far in the lineup despite someone as good as Keuchel on the mound.

Keuchel walked Hernandez, so here’s Cody Bellinger with the bases loaded. Bellinger looked as great in Game 4 as he did awful in Game 3, as he began to go the other way and succeeded with a pair of key doubles. Lucky for the Astros and Keuchel, Bellinger struck out here instead of hitting a baseball, and there are now two outs and the bases still juiced for Logan Forsythe.

Forsythe does what Bellinger did not, and dumps a ball into left field that should have only scored one run. Instead, Marwin Gonzalez had the ball bounce off of the heel of his glove head in the other direction, so two runs have scored, and there are now runners at the corners. 2-0, Dodgers.

Well... some things just happened to make it 3-0. Dallas Keuchel tried to pick Forsythe off at first, but Forsythe decided to run to second base, which opened up an opportunity for Hernandez to score. To make matters worse, Forsythe ended up being safe at second because Gurriel’s throw went wide and took Altuve well out of the basepath.

This play is now under review, but there might not be enough to overturn it based on the replays we’re being shown. And the play stands.

Gurriel probably should not have thrown the ball to second base there — the whole point of Forsythe taking that lead and then taking off is because second base is supposed to basically be free with a runner on third.

Yasiel Puig grounds out to end the inning, but it’s 3-0 Dodgers, and Clayton Kershaw hasn’t even taken the mound to make the Astros feel worse about that deficit yet.

Speaking of Kershaw, he gets George Springer to ground out on the second pitch he sees to begin the bottom of the first inning. Alex Bregman hits the ball much further, but it’s still an out to center. Here’s Jose Altuve, who has a lower slugging percentage (.368) in the World Series than he had a postseason batting average (.400) coming into the Fall Classic. And that figure just dropped some more, with Kershaw striking him out on four pitches.

Kershaw is through the first inning on just 12 pitches, which is 20 fewer than Keuchel had to toss in his half of the frame.

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Why the first World Series went to Game 8