HOUSTON – The Braves defeated the Astros 6-2 in Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday. But the victory wasn’t without cost: Starter Charlie Morton sustained a broken right fibula and will miss the remainder of the series.
Here are five takeaways from Tuesday:
1. Morton suffered the injury when he was struck by a 102-mph liner off Yuli Gurriel’s bat to open the second inning. Morton stayed in the game, recording the next three outs, including a strikeout of Jose Altuve to begin the third.
After fanning Altuve, Morton was in clear pain and visited with trainers before exiting the contest, limping off the field on his own. The Braves revealed he underwent an X-ray that showed the broken fibula, which ended his season. He’s expected to be ready for spring training 2022.
“When the inning was over, we met and talked about what’s going on,” catcher Travis d’Arnaud said. “He said, ‘Oh, that one got me good.’ He was kind of walking a little funny. I didn’t think it was broken. I just thought he took a line drive off of his leg. But to go out there and strike out the next guy with a broken leg, it blows my mind.”
Manager Brian Snitker: “God bless him, I hate it for him. Really hate it for him. He’s such a great person, great person and teammate. I do, I really hate it for him because I know he’s really looking forward to this run with us. So we’ll move on.”
2. Slugger Jorge Soler made World Series history when he homered off Astros starter Framber Valdez in his first at-bat. Soler, who homered a hanging 2-0 pitch, became the first player to homer in the first plate appearance of a World Series.
“I’m very happy obviously,” Soler said via team interpreter Franco Garcia. “Me and my family were both very happy. I didn’t know that (history) was a thing until I was told a little later on in the game. I wasn’t thinking about anything like that. I was just trying to get an at-bat and just make contact with the ball.”
3. A.J. Minter was pivotal for the Braves in the National League Championship Series against the Dodgers. He delivered again Tuesday, replacing Morton and pitching the next 2-2/3 innings. Minter allowed one run in that time, helping the Braves protect the five-run advantage they built before Morton’s exit.
Over his past three appearances – each of which was two or more innings – Minter has allowed one run on four hits, striking out eight without issuing a walk, across 6-2/3 frames.
“That was huge what A.J. pulled down,” Snitker said. “He did it for us last year in the NLCS, but that tonight was really, really good. He was well rested. And he pulled down some really, really big innings for us.
“We went to him earlier than we normally would, but like I said earlier today, you do things differently here in this arena. A.J. has been so good this postseason. Just not him, all the bullpen. That was huge tonight what he did, how he stretched the game to get us to those other guys.”
4. The Braves’ pitching held the mighty Astros offense to two runs on eight hits. Houston entered the series having scored 45 two-out runs this postseason. They had zero such runs Tuesday and went just 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
“You can’t guide the ball; all you can do is hit it,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “We didn’t get the two-out hits. If you can get them any time you wanted to, you’d never make an out. The ball didn’t bounce our way tonight, and it bounced theirs.”
Minter, Luke Jackson, Tyler Matzek and Will Smith combined to allow one run on seven hits over 6-2/3 innings. Jackson recorded five outs in a bounce-back performance after struggling in the NLCS.
“Luke has been one of the best relievers in baseball, if not the best reliever in baseball all season long,” Minter said. “For him to go out there -- even the first outing against the Dodgers he had, he executed every single pitch he wanted to, just bad luck. He’s bounced back, like we know he would, and we’re going to need him moving forward.”
5. Every Braves starting position player had at least one hit Tuesday. They became the first team to achieve that feat in a World Series game since the Royals in Game 6, 2014. It was the third time in franchise history the Braves have done it in a World Series and the 25th time in MLB history it’s occurred. It was the first time it’s happened in a Game 1.
Stat to know
8 (The Braves won a World Series game for the first time since Oct. 21, 1996, snapping an eight-game losing streak in the Fall Classic.)
Quotable
“We’ve overcome every adversity that’s come our way. I don’t know how good that English was, I’m sorry.” – d’Arnaud.
Good sign
The winner of Game 1 wins the World Series 63% of the time, including 20 of the past 23 World Series.
Up next
The Braves and Astros will play Game 2 on Wednesday in Houston. Braves lefty Max Fried will face Astros right-hander Jose Urquidy.
