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Clinching the World Series with a second straight bullpen game wasn’t going to be easy. The approach had worked in Game 4 to inch the Braves one win away from a championship, but they ran into a heavy-hitting Astros lineup in Sunday night’s Game 5.
“That’s just a lot of innings to cover against a club like this that swings a bat so well,” Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said following the 9-5 loss at Truist Park. “The good news is, we’ll take a day off and be in good shape.”
After gaining a 3-1 Series advantage on Saturday, the Braves gave the starting nod to second-year pitcher Tucker Davidson in Game 5 as they looked to close it out at home. Davidson gave up Atlanta’s early lead — built by Adam Duvall’s first-inning grand slam — by allowing four runs (two earned) in two-plus frames. Veteran Jesse Chavez then tossed 1 2/3 scoreless innings to bridge the gap to A.J. Minter, one of the driving forces of the Braves’ dominant bullpen.
For only the second time this postseason, Minter didn’t shut out his opponent. The left-hander took the loss and a blown save after allowing three runs on three hits and two walks in one-plus inning, while also recording two strikeouts.
“My God, he’s been so good. He’s had such a great postseason,” Snitker said. “He had to work really hard. It didn’t work. We were going to take that shot right there and see if we could keep the game in check and go from there, because we kind of felt like he was our best option in that situation, especially with [Michael] Brantley coming up, to maybe get it to where we could piece it together with the other guys.”
