Highlights from the Astros’ World Series Game 2 win over the Dodgers

Game 2 is now over, and the Astros won, 7-6, following a whole lot of homers, every reliever in the Dodgers’ bullpen, and some bananas extra innings. You can relive it all with our live blog: If you want to start at the beginning, scroll down to the “1st inning” header, and work your way back up to the top.

We’ll be back on Thursday to live blog Game 3 when the series moves to Houston.

Justin Verlander came out of the clubhouse to scream motivation at his teammates.

Brandon McCarthy is here, and he’s the last pitcher out of the bullpen for the Dodgers tonight. They’re also out of position players, as Charlie Culberson is now in left field, which moved Kiké Hernandez to center field — McCarthy took Chris Taylor’s spot in the lineup, since he made the last out of the 10th.

McCarthy gives up a leadoff single to Cameron Maybin, who entered the game defensively last inning, and now here’s George Springer with a man on and no outs.

McCarthy has been throwing on the side throughout the postseason, but his last in-game action came on Oct. 1, in the regular season. He looks a little rusty, and to make matters worse, Maybin just stole second base.

Everyone — even Dodgers fans — can now thank Maybin for winning America a free taco from Taco Bell. Thanks, Cameron Maybin!

This game is absolutely ridiculous and I love all of it. George Springer just hit a two-run homer, and it’s now 7-5, Astros. There are still no outs.

Bregman changes that by popping out, and Altuve grounds out right after.

I don’t mean to alarm you, but

Here’s Correa, who already hit a dinger tonight. He grounds out here, and the Dodgers are once again down to their last three outs, while the Astros are three outs from winning their first World Series game in franchise history.

Corey Seager, Justin Turner, and Charlie Culberson, will bat in the bottom of the 11th. Cody Bellinger is out of the game thanks to a double switch earlier, which is how we got Culberson in the mix. They’ll be facing Chris Devenski, who entered the game in the 10th.

Seager hits the ball hard, but right to Maybin. Two outs remaining for the Dodgers.

Devenski seems a little more, uh, throwing the ball where he means to in the 11th. He has Turner down 1-2. Turner works things to 3-2, and Devenski is now eight pitches deep into this plate appearance. Turner is making him work.

Turner hits a laser to third base, but his counterpart at the position snags it, and suddenly everything is down to Charlie Culberson.

Culberson continues doing his impression of Corey Seager — he just went deep, it’s 7-6, and now Yasiel Puig is up to bat again.

Puig hit a dinger last time up, and he is now waiting for the perfect pitch to crush again, apparently. Houston is one strike away from winning Game 2.

Puig gets the count back to even after checking his swing. Devenski has a tough decision to make, as challenging Puig could result in a very long hit. Another check swing, and it’s a full count.

Puig just misses an 84 mph pitch up, fouling it behind him. We’ll do this again on 3-2. This one is 82 and a little outside, but Puig fouls it off just to be safe.

The third 3-2 pitch gets Puig swinging through, and the Astros win it 7-6 in 11. Houston gets their first World Series victory in franchise history, and the series is now tied up 1-1 as they head to Texas.

Welcome to extra innings! To catch you up: The Dodgers have already used Brandon Morrow, Kenta Maeda, and Kenley Jansen. Tony Watson also threw one pitch and faced one batter, and Stripling faced a single batter. So, here’s Josh Fields. Tony Cingrani is left in the pen, and Brandon McCarthy is on the roster after not being on the NLCS one, so the Dodgers do have arms left. The broadcast mentions Game 4 starter Alex Wood could also make an appearance if necessary.

WELP AGAIN

Jose Altuve finally woke up, and he hit a leadoff homer in the 10th inning off of Fields. It’s 4-3 Astros. Remember like, 15 minutes ago when they were going down 0-2 in the World Series?

Oh boy. Things just got worse for Fields and the Dodgers. Carlos Correa follows up Altuve’s dinger with a dinger of his own, and it’s now 5-3, Astros, and there still aren’t any outs in the 10th inning.

Fields has got nothing. Gurriel hits a double, and that’s three extra-base hits in a row on just six pitches from Fields.

Or, as Grant put it on Twitter:

Tony Cingrani will take over for Fields with Gurriel at second base. McCann, Gonzalez — who hit the game-tying homer that got the Astros here in the first place — and Josh Reddick are all due up.

Gonzalez is intentionally walked after McCann flies out, so there’s one out, two on, and Reddick up in a position to make this game really difficult to come back in. He hits into a double play instead, and we’re off to the bottom of the 10th.

The Astros are now three outs away from winning their franchise’s first-ever World Series game. The Dodgers are sending Yasiel Puig, Yasmani Grandal, and Austin Barnes to the plate, though, so don’t get too excited yet, Houston.

Yasiel Puig leads off the inning with a homer. 5-4, Astros. This game is so good.

Joe Buck, by the way, didn’t really blame Puig for not catching that ball in the eighth, but kind of mentioned the butterfly effect of Puig not catching it with a hint of blame in his voice. John Smoltz came to Puig’s defense, saying only Puig and Heyward would have even gotten close to a catch, and then Puig went deep and none of this mattered anyway.

The Dodgers have two outs left after Grandal punches out, and now it’s Barnes trying to get his first hit of Game 2. He strikes out instead, and the Astros are now one out away from tying this series and winning a World Series game for the first time in franchise history.

Logan Forsythe is up to bat, and he’s the last hope for the Dodgers in Game 2. He works the count to 3-2, and if he can reach, Kiké Hernandez would bat representing the winning run. And we know he can go yard.

Forsythe does indeed walk, and here’s Hernandez and a mound visit for Giles. The Astros’ closer is at 28 pitches, and he’s been throwing terrible pitches with more regularity in this appearance/postseason/season than Astros fans should be comfortable with. Hinch recognizes this, and has Chris Devenski and Luke Gregerson both warming up in the bullpen in case Giles fails to get Hernandez.

Giles spikes a pitch into the dirt, it gets to the backstop, and the tying run is suddenly on second base. Hernandez works the count to 3-1, and then on the next pitch, drives in the tying run with a double to right field.

It’s 5-5, and the top of the Dodgers’ order is now up. The Astros are now a single away from going down 0-2 in the World Series. Ken Giles’ night is over as Chris Taylor steps to the plate. He’ll be facing new pitcher Chris Devenski.

I honestly don’t know how you score this, but, Chris Devenski just tried to pick off Hernandez at second, and instead he missed the base horribly... and hit the umpire with it. Hitting the ump kept the ball from going into center and putting Hernandez at third base, so... good strategy, I guess.

Chris Taylor flies out to center despite Devenski’s adventurous throws and pitches, and we’re headed to the 11th, tied 5-5.

The Astros have more riding on this than just the possibility of going down 0-2 before the series shifts to Houston.

The Astros were swept in the 2005 World Series by the White Sox, which was their first World Series. This is their second, and they are three outs away from tying that mark set by the Tigers well over a century ago.

Marwin Gonzalez, who has basically vanished in the postseason at the plate, leads off the top of the ninth against Jansen, who is going for a six-out save.

WELP

Marwin Gonzalez got real tired of me mentioning that he has been doing nothing offensively for weeks now, and he just hit a game-tying homer against Kenley Jansen. Save is blown, Morrow has already been used, so has Maeda, and Jansen probably won’t be in for much longer. 3-3.

Jansen recovers to get Josh Reddick — at least he wasn’t the one to tie it up, right Dodgers’ fans? — and pinch-hitter Carlos Beltran.

George Springer isn’t making things easy on Jansen, working a 3-2 count, and on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, he grounds a ball past Turner at third base for a two-out double. The Astros have a runner in scoring position for Alex Bregman, who until the recent runs late in this game, was the only Houston player driving in runs in the World Series.

No such luck for the Astros this time, as Bregman grounds out, and we’re off to the bottom of the ninth inning, where the Dodgers now have a chance to walk off.

AJ Hinch is going with his closer on the road in a tie game to give the Astros a chance to score again in the 10th off of Not Kenley Jansen. Ken Giles will have to get through Corey Seager, Justin Turner, and Cody Bellinger to do it, though, so this belongs in the Easier Said Than Done bin.

Seager punches out, so there’s one. Turner grounds out to shortstop, so now it’s up to the rookie, Cody Bellinger, to snap his 0-for-6 run in the World Series so far in a way that keeps this inning alive.

The camera just made it look like Bellinger hit a walkoff homer, but the ball landed in Josh Reddick’s glove comfortably short of the stands, and we’re off to extra innings.

The Astros need to score runs real soon, as they are down to their final six outs. Alex Bregman is up first, and he’s the only one who has driven in any runs for Houston in the World Series so far, so....

Puig nearly catches a Bregman double with a diving grab, but it bounces off his glove and out of play. He’s furious at himself for not grabbing it, but man, Puig shouldn’t have been anywhere near that ball in the first place, and yet, he nearly caught it.

He’s beating himself up in the outfield a bit, but Yasiel, friend, we’re all just impressed a human being was able to cover that ground to get as close as you did.

Dave Roberts is not messing around with a two-run lead, and Brandon Morrow is out of the game. Kenley Jansen is here to get a six-out save, and why not? Game 3 isn’t until Friday, and everyone has time to relax on Thursday.

This was a double switch, by the way, and now Kiké Hernandez is playing left field and batting ninth, while Jansen is up sixth.

Altuve moves Bregman over to third, but makes another out. He has not had a great series offensively to this point, but it’s still early.

Correa drives in Bregman with a single up the middle, and it’s now 3-2, Dodgers. The Dodgers scoreless streak by the bullpen is now over at 28-1/3 innings, and here’s Yuli Gurriel. Gurriel pops out foul, so it’s down to McCann to try to avoid stranding Correa.

Spoiler: he stranded Correa. The Astros are down to their last three outs, but at least the deficit is now just one run.

Joe Musgrove is going to try to hold things at 3-2, and he’s off to a good start, getting Chase Utley to fly out on the second pitch of his at-bat.

Musgrove keeps things quiet, the Astros remain down one, and now they head to their last chance to keep this series from going 2-0, Dodgers.

Watson only threw the one pitch and faced the one batter in total, as Ross Stripling is the new pitcher for the Dodgers now that they have a lead. He’s set to face Marwin Gonzalez, Josh Reddick, and Justin Verlander in the seventh.

Stripling walks Gonzalez, so the Dodgers stop messing around with the second-tier relievers and bring out Brandon Morrow. Morrow does his thing, induces a double play, and the Dodgers are now one out away from making it 28 consecutive scoreless innings by their bullpen.

Evan Gattis is pinch-hitting for Verlander, so that’s the end of his night, even with the low pitch count. Gattis didn’t look much better against Morrow than Verlander would have, but he hit it to the exact right place and drew an inaccurate throw to first. Morrow erased that issue by getting Springer to ground out, and we’re on to the bottom of the seventh.

Will Harris takes over for Verlander on the mound, after Gattis pinch-hit for the starter. The inning starts with Gurriel unable to hold on to a ball at first, so Bellinger reaches on an error, and is at first with Puig up to bat.

Bellinger ran on the 0-2 pitch to Puig, but Puig swung and fouled it off, so no free tacos for America yet. And then Bellinger takes second on a wild pitch, which means it’s not a stolen base, and therefore no tacos again.

Puig gets Bellinger to third with a grounder up the middle, so the Dodgers have a chance for an insurance run in case the Astros’ bats wake up against Morrow or Kenley Jansen.

Harris gets Pederson to strike out on a high cutter, and Harris is nearly out of this inning. He’ll have to get through catcher Austin Barnes before that happens, though. He does! And the Astros escape without letting the Dodgers widen the lead. 3-1, Los Angeles, through seven full.

Maeda is back out for the sixth inning, or at least for its right-handed hitters. Carlos Correa is the first of those, Yuli Gurriel the second, then it’s the lefty McCann, the switch-hitting Gonzalez, and another lefty in Reddick.

Oh! Maeda just gave up his first hit of the postseason, and Correa gets his first hit of the World Series. Gurriel might very well be Maeda’s final batter, considering the slew of lefties on the way.

The Tonys are up in the Dodgers’ bullpen — Cingrani and Watson. They’re just kind of standing around, so they’re probably ready. Gurriel pops out behind the plate, so we’ll find out for sure in a moment!

It’s the left-handed Tony Watson coming into the game to face McCann. He’ll only face the one batter this frame, too, as Watson induces an inning-ending double play on his first pitch.

The Dodgers might be into their dominant bullpen, but Verlander is still out here logging efficient outs. He gets the first two Los Angeles’ batters of the inning on just four pitches, and here’s Chris Taylor and the top of the order.

Taylor makes things a bit tougher for Verlander, working a 3-2 count and then picking up his second walk of the night. It was real close, but it was also a ball for sure. Verlander is at 72 pitches, and will try to make it right against Seager.

Will now be the time when someone wins us free tacos? No, no free tacos, but it’s 3-1 for the Dodgers after a sixth-inning two-run home run, which sure makes this feel a lot like Game 1 again for the Astros.

I’d like you all to know that Grant Brisbee made this photoshop for me while sitting in the Dodgers’ press box. I call it, “Corey Seager is real excited about his dong.”

Verlander is up to 78 pitches at inning’s end, and that complete game looks like it’ll be a little tougher to get to. Then again, if the Astros offense can respond and even things up soon, there might not be a better option than Verlander in that pen until you can get to Ken Giles, anyway.

Rich Hill has thrown just the 60 pitches, but the Dodgers are taking him out of the game now that the top of the order is here again. Kenta Maeda takes the mound to face right-handers George Springer, Alex Bregman, and Jose Altuve, and if they want to keep him in longer than that, Correa and Gurriel are righties, too, so he could face five in a row.

Springer flies out to center field, and Chris Taylor didn’t even almost get hit in the face with the ball this time. Bregman is at the top of the lineup because Hill is left-handed, but he is making Maeda work here: it’s now a full count after eight pitches.

Bregman puts a charge into pitch number nine, but it falls just shy of the warning track into Joc Pederson’s glove. That’s two down for Maeda, three righties to go. Altuve makes it three of five: He’s just 1-for-7 with three strikeouts in the World Series so far.

Verlander strikes out Bellinger for his fifth punch out of the game, and it was on pitch number 48. If he keeps this up, he might have a complete game in him, and without having to go overboard with his pitch count.

Yasiel Puig grounds out despite repeated bat licks for luck, but Joc Pederson is here to pick up the Dodgers. He hits a homer to right, and it’s now a tie game again. Verlander escapes further damage, and it’s all tied up at 1-1 after five.

Hill will try to keep the Astros scoreless in the top of the fourth, and he’ll have to retire Gurriel, McCann, and Gonzalez to do it. Gurriel walks, so now Brian McCann and his beard will try to do something with that.

A passed ball gets Gurriel to second. McCann flies out, and Gurriel thinks about advancing, but then quickly remembers to not to because Yasiel Puig is holding the baseball. It was pretty amazing, as Puig just stood there and stared at Gurriel, daring him to test his arm, but Gurriel knew better.

Hill just might have stranded Gurriel at second, too, as he just struck out Marwin Gonzalez to get that second out, and now here’s Justin Verlander again. And there goes Justin Verlander, the seventh strikeout of Rich Hill’s game.

The Dodgers’ bullpen, by the way, is moving. So they aren’t going to keep using Hill forever, even if he’s rolling and has only thrown 60 pitches.

While 60 through four is nifty and all, Verlander is at 32 through three. Chris Taylor is doing his best to get that pitch total up, working a full count and pushing Verlander to seven pitches in this one at-bat. Verlander misses with a fastball up-and-in, Taylor walks, and the Dodgers have their first baserunner of the game.

Will Chris Taylor be the one to steal all of America free tacos? He will not be, thanks to a fielder’s choice on the basepaths, but now Corey Seager has the chance to swipe second and get tacos for us all.

No tacos yet: Verlander induces a double play this time around, and that’s the end of the fourth inning. Still 1-0, Astros.

Josh Reddick makes it on base thanks to Chase Utley booting a ball, but it’s counted as a hit. Justin Verlander than bunts Reddick over to second, and doesn’t bother running down the first base line at all, which is probably the smart idea considering the task ahead of him tonight.

George Springer singles, moving Reddick to third base, and then Alex Bregman drives in Reddick with a single to center field that hit the ground and then bounced off of Chris Taylor’s hat. That looked like it hit him in the face first, so off the brim of the hat is a huge upgrade. Also, 1-0, Astros.

Hill manages to strike out Altuve for out number two — the Astros’ second baseman was fooled and it was obvious that was the case — so now it’s up to Correa to try to score another. Just like Altuve striking out because Hill seems to have him figured out, Correa goes down via a wicked curve he can’t lay off of.

Austin Barnes didn’t feel much like facing Justin Verlander for long, and I can’t blame him. He flies out on the second pitch, bringing up Chase Utley. Utley has a history of serious World Series production — his five homers in the 2009 World Series are tied for the second-most all-time with Reggie Jackson, as the broadcast notes. Here, though, he lines out to Altuve on a real nice jumping play by the second baseman. That must have been at least six feet off the ground!

Rich Hill tried to bunt his way on, but Justin Verlander covered first, and Hill couldn’t sneak his way on. 1-0, Astros, after three innings.

Rich Hill sure has put the troubles of the first inning behind him. He had a little immediate help from Yuli Gurriel, who flew out on the first pitch he saw, but Brian McCann followed that up with a strikeout, Hill’s second of the night. Marwin Gonzalez follows up with strikeout number three. Well, that was an easy inning to live blog. Thanks, Rich.

It’s Justin Verlander against Cody Bellinger, the veteran-who’s-still-got-it versus the rookie who nearly became the first ever debuting player to hit 40 homers in their initial season. Bellinger stopped at 39, but hey, he’s in the World Series, and dingers are totally legal there.

Bellinger won’t be hitting one just yet, as Verlander makes him strikeout number three of the game. Here’s Yasiel Puig, who the FOX preshow and the broadcast are both pumping up as great and fun and good for the Dodgers and I’m so glad we’re finally admitting this on a national level instead of trying to stifle him. Verlander prefers the stifling, and gets Puig to pop out.

Joc Pederson finishes out the frame with a K looking, and Verlander is through two innings on 24 pitches.

Rich Hill throws roughly 400 different curveballs of all speeds and shapes, and the Astros are going to have to deal with that in Game 2. Houston will use the same lineup it did in Game 1 — Hill is a lefty, just like Clayton Kershaw — meaning it’s going to be George Springer, Alex Bregman, and Jose Altuve due up in the first.

Rich Hill just threw a curveball directly behind George Springer’s feet, which feels like it would be difficult to replicate. The next pitch was a foul ball by Springer that almost caused him to twist himself into falling down, which, yeah, same reaction for me as to the last pitch.

Springer draws a leadoff walk when Hill throws a ball he’s lucky his catcher caught. Hill then opens to Bregman with another weird ball. Rich Hill is not finding his spots! The count is 3-1, but Hill gets saved by Bregman, who pops up to the catcher Austin Barnes for the first out.

Hill seems to have found himself after getting Bregman to chase that pitch he popped up, and he strikes Altuve out on three pitches for the second out. Now he’s got Carlos Correa down 0-2 in a hurry as well. Correa ends up flying out with half-a-swing to right field, and Hill manages to make his early wildness not matter one bit.

Justin Verlander didn’t win the ALCS for the Astros by himself, but he certainly did more than anyone — that’s how he won the MVP trophy for that round. He threw a complete-game, one-run affair in Game 2, then held the Yankees off long enough in Game 6 to keep the Astros’ season alive. Now he’s here in Game 2 of the World Series trying to even things up.

He’s off to a good start, striking out Chris Taylor and Corey Seager to kick off the bottom of the first. Now he’s facing Justin Turner, who just hasn’t been making outs as often as his opponents need him to. Here, though, he flies out to center, and that’s the end of the first.