Highlights from the Dodgers’ World Series Game 6 win over the Astros

Rich Hill was removed early. Justin Verlander didn’t quite have his stuff long enough to pitch deep into Game 6. And yet, the final score was 3-1, because both bullpens managed to do something besides implode.

The Dodgers came away with the win since their bullpen was just a bit better, but at least the Astros got to rest the pitchers they actually trust. Well, trust a little bit, anyway. That’s just a faded-silver lining, though, since Houston could have ended it all tonight with Justin Verlander on the mound. Instead, we’re on to Game 7.

As usual, if you want to read this live blog from the beginning, scroll down to the “1st inning” header and work your way back up to relive Game 6.

To go back to that Koskie tweet from the eighth inning for a moment, let’s just point out how hilarious it would be if MLB went back to the pre-World Series baseballs for a night just to get people to stop talking about how slick the balls are in the World Series, and the result is a 3-1 game where suddenly all of the awful pitchers can go back to being good enough.

Anyway, here’s Kenley Jansen on the mound again to try to get the final three outs for the Dodgers. As he threw just seven pitches against the middle of the Astros’ lineup, he should, in theory, have plenty left for the bottom-third.

Marwin Gonzalez starts things off for Houston, down 3-1 with three outs to go. He ends up swinging at a pitch at his chest — not at chest level, but at his chest — and pops out. That brings up Josh Reddick, the crowd’s second-favorite Astro to boo.

That night off apparently did wonders for Jansen, who has thrown just 14 pitches here, 13 of them strikes, and he’s now one strike away from sitting Reddick down and bringing the Astros to their final out.

Reddick strikes out on the next pitch, and now it’s all up to Carlos Beltran. Beltran goes down 0-2 in a hurry, the second strike coming on a long foul ball. Please don’t strike out looking, Carlos, please.

Beltran struck out on a pitch at his eyes, but hey, at least it wasn’t looking. The Dodgers win 3-1, forcing a Game 7. We’ll be back here tomorrow to live blog that decisive game.

Here’s Kenley Jansen in the eighth, so either Dave Roberts went back on his word and is using his closer for six outs, or he wants to get through Correa, Gurriel, and McCann before the bottom of the order faces a different reliever in the ninth.

Correa and Gurriel go down in a hurry on a fly ball and a foul popup, and Jansen has thrown just four pitches. So... maybe he can get six outs, if McCann makes this last one of the eighth inning painless.

No, I will not apologize to John Smoltz for this, not until he apologizes to me for all of the other stuff in the last few weeks.

McCann strikes out, and Jansen did his job on just seven pitches. Or, from the other perspective, it took the Astros just seven pitches to seriously deflate their entire fanbase.

Here’s Luke Gregerson, who should make you very nervous considering all of the talk about the baseballs being slicker and impeding sliders, which is basically the thing Gregerson throws.

Charlie Culberson singles in his first at-bat of the game, and it’s hard to remember a time where he wasn’t on the Dodgers’ roster constantly picking up key hits. That brings up the top of the order, with Taylor, Seager, and Turner now all expected to bat.

Alex Bregman’s defense is so good, and I will miss watching it when the World Series is over. He just nailed Taylor at first after making a ridiculous scoop on the foul line. Culberson is now at second with Seager up.

Francisco Liriano is warming up, so the Astros are apparently just trying to see if they can use all the relievers they do not want to be using in a Game 7 tonight while they still have a game they can afford to lose on the schedule.

Seager goes down swinging, so now it’s up to Justin Turner to pad the Dodgers’ lead by driving in Culberson. He walks, and that’s it for Gregerson: now here’s Liriano to face the left-handed Bellinger.

The slicker balls mean Liriano’s slider is going to be even more unreliable than it’s been in 2017, but maybe he’ll get the version of Bellinger that can’t hit anything at all in this plate appearance. It’s only one plate appearance and all.

If he doesn’t get that Bellinger, then, uh, this score is about to change.

Liriano started Bellinger out 0-2, but he worked the count back to even, and then just tipped a slider in the dirt to stay alive.

Former MLB player Corey Koskie is asking the right questions on Twitter:

Bellinger’s fourth strikeout of the game strands two runners, and the Astros move on to the ninth inning down two runs.

Tony Watson walked Josh Reddick to lead off the seventh, and it’s the end of Justin Verlander’s night, as Evan Gattis is now pinch-hitting for him. Kenta Maeda is going to pitch now, as Gattis is a righty, but it’s worth pointing out that Gattis doesn’t have much in the way of platoon splits in his career, and actually hit right-handers better in 2017.

Gattis nearly grounds into a double play, except then he beat out the throw to first, which is apparently a thing that Evan Gattis can do!

Dave Roberts wants to check out the Reddick slide on Utley at second base, which is hilarious for a number of reasons all involving Chase Utey’s history of trying to murder people at second base on his slides. The review basically went on long enough for New York’s offices to stop laughing, and we’re back to the game.

John Smoltz is now advocating for six outs from Kenley Jansen, because apparently he’s watching a different series where Jansen hasn’t given up runs in three straight appearances because he, like everyone else in the bullpen, is mortal and exhausted. Also, Roberts already stated his preference pre-game of using Jansen for three outs.

Remember, if the Dodgers win tonight, there is a game tomorrow. And while they shouldn’t worry about tomorrow too much, getting to tomorrow probably means not using Jansen for six outs if they can help it.

George Springer gets an infield single, moving Gattis to second, and that brings in pinch-runner Derek Fisher. Here’s Alex Bregman with one out, while Alex Wood warms up in the Dodgers’ pen.

Bregman flies out, moving Fisher to third, but Springer stays at first. Now it’s Maeda vs. Jose Altuve with two down.

Altuve is fouling pitches off, not missing by much, but he’s now also at two strikes and has to protect the plate to avoid ending things here on a disappointing note. Turner and Bellinger just combined to make a pretty defensive play: Turner’s scoop at throw was impressive, and Bellinger picking the low throw out of the dirt even more so. The Dodgers maintain their 2-1 lead, and now they get to face an Astros’ reliever.

Joe Musgrove is the Astros’ first bullpen move of Game 6. It should tell you something about the state of Houston’s bullpen right now that they’re intentionally going to a guy who had a 4.77 ERA and allowed 1.5 homers per nine in the regular season in this 2-1 game in the World Series.

Oh look, the homer-prone guy gave up a homer to Joc Pederson, who hits homers, and now it’s 3-1.

Andre Ethier pinch-hits for Maeda, so that’s the end of the righty’s evening. Ethier flies out, and then Barnes follows by striking out, but Musgrove already made the wrong kind of mark on Game 6, and it’s 3-1, Dodgers after seven.

Man, Roberts apparently needs to play with fire to feel alive, because Brandon Morrow is back out here for the sixth to face the middle of the Astros’ order. Roberts hasn’t been burned yet, as Morrow gets Altuve to ground out. Don’t worry, I’ll switch metaphors in the next paragraph.

Dave Roberts: Hit me.

Blackjack Dealer: You have 19, sir.

Dave Roberts: Hit me.

[Carlos Correa strikes out]

Blackjack Dealer: An ace! You have 20, sir.

Dave Roberts: Hit me.

Blackjack dealer: ...

[Yuli Gurriel hits a single, Morrow is replaced]

Dave Roberts: uh never mind

Here’s Tony Watson, taking Logan Forsythe’s spot in the lineup. That means Chase Utley is replacing Brandon Morrow and batting ninth. Given how Utley hits these days, Roerts probably could have just gone with the straight-up switch this time instead of the double variety.

Watson hits McCann, so now there are runners at first and second with two outs for Marwin Gonzalez. Hey look, that’s Clayton Kershaw in the bullpen. His jacket is on and he’s not doing anything, but he is there, and that itself is telling.

Watson seems to be pitching around Gonzalez a bit, maybe because he’s right-handed and lefty Josh Reddick is up next — Watson originally was in to face the left-handed McCann.

Gonzalez hits a soft liner up the middle, and Utley is able to snag it to end the inning and the threat.

Verlander gives up a leadoff hit to Austin Barnes, which brings up Chase Utley, which means Joe Buck is once again talking about that time Utley scored four touchdowns in one game for Polk High.

Utley gets hit by a pitch, and suddenly there are two runners on, no outs, and Chris Taylor up at the plate. John Smoltz is trying to convince Dave Roberts to make Taylor bunt here using mind bullets, but Taylor is up here swinging.

And it’s a good thing he was, as it’s now a tie game after a Taylor double! Utley is at third, and there are still no outs: here comes Corey Seager. This one goes to the warning track, so it was just shy of a three-run shot, but the Dodgers will take the sac fly here, as it gives them the lead. 2-1, Los Angeles, and there is just one out with a runner still in scoring position for Justin Turner.

Turner pops out, but things don’t necessarily get easier, since now Cody Bellinger is up. The sac fly opportunity is gone, so there is that. Verlander gets out of it, but it’s 2-1, Dodgers, and it’s time for our daily reminder to you that the Astros’ bullpen is jealous of garbage fires.

FOX comes back from commercial just in time for Brian McCann to hit a long single against Hill, and the Astros have themselves a baserunner. Marwin Gonzalez follows with a double that gets McCann to third, and suddenly things are very interesting in Los Angeles.

Reddick bats now with no outs, and Justin Verlander is up next. The Astros will worry about that when he’s actually up, though, and they know how many outs there are at that time.

Reddick strikes out, which was the ideal scenario outside of somehow a weird double play happening. That brings up Verlander with one out, and he is not bunting, not with the infield in and Brian McCann’s legs on third.

Verlander strikes out as well, which is probably for the best. Low-effort for Verlander, only one out, and here’s George Springer to try to take advantage.

One more homer for Springer, by the way, and he ties the home run record for a single World Series. He won’t get the chance to mash one, though, as he gets the intentional walk to bring up Alex Bregman.

Here comes Dave Roberts to remove Hill from the game already — Brandon Morrow, who was so tired and bad in Game 5 that he apologized for talking his way into making an appearance, comes out with the bases loaded. Maybe he slept for like, 15 hours last night and is rested now.

Let’s recap during the commercial break: Morrow recorded no outs in Game 5, allowed four runs and two homers... and did so on six pitches.

Roberts is playing with fire here, but it works, as Morrow gets an inning-ending groundout, and the score remains 1-0 when it could have been much, much worse.

It’ll be Puig, Pederson, and Forsythe in the bottom of the fifth, and they’ll be facing Verlander, who is at 58 pitches. Puig pounces on the first pitch and gives it a ride, but it’s a long fly out to right.

Man, Dodgers, you need to make Verlander work if you want the pain to stop. Pederson flies out on the third pitch, and it’s now up to Forsythe and his notable discipline to keep this from spiraling further.

Forsythe is six pitches into his plate appearance, so he’s doing the work for everyone. Seven pitches now, and it’s a full count. It ends with Forsythe striking out, but at least he made Verlander work a bit: the right-hander is up to 69 pitches. What a nice place to be after five.

Jose Altuve has looked like a tougher out of late, and Hill ends up getting him to ground out here on five pitches — Altuve was only out by about half-a-step, too.

Carlos Correa is now also 0-for-2 after flying out to center, and here comes Yuli Gurriel and his adoring Los Angeles fans. Rich Hill is not moving any faster than he was last time Gurriel was up to bat.

He gets Gurriel out once more, eliciting cheers again, and that ends the top of the fourth.

By the way, it’s now raining! Not hard, but it is coming down enough that you can see it when a camera besides the center field one is in use.

Here’s Corey Seager to lead off the bottom of the frame against Verlander. He flies out, and then the FOX booth turns the camera to Kate Upton, Verlander’s fiancé, and then say a bunch of things that I didn’t listen to because I was too busy admiring Kate Upton’s dope as heck retro Astros’ jacket. It mutes the old color scheme just enough that you can wear it in public to something besides an Astros’ game where it doesn’t matter how ridiculous your apparel is.

Oh, also Justin Turner struck out, but y’all have to know my feelings about the jacket. And then Cody Bellinger struck out for the second time tonight, so that’s the end of the fourth, and Verlander seems back on track.

It’ll be Josh Reddick, Justin Verlander, and then George Springer and the top of the Astros’ order here in the top of the third. Normally, we’d be thinking, “This is the last time Hill will face any of these hitters tonight,” but the Dodgers are going to push Hill as long as he’ll go. How long that is, well, that’s just something we’ll have to watch and see.

Reddick flies out to center field, and Verlander follows up with a strikeout, Hill’s third of the game. Springer should be a little more of a challenge than the bottom of the order and a pitcher.

And he is! Springer hits his fourth homer of the World Series, and it’s 1-0, Astros. Alex Bregman made an out immediately after that, but, 1-0, Houston.

Austin Barnes steps in to face Verlander, and Rich Hill will follow him. Barnes grounds out, but gets five pitches out of Verlander to do it. Here comes Hill, then the top of the Dodgers’ order for the second time.

Look at Hill out here, making Verlander work! He’s fouling off pitches, and it takes five pitches to sit him down. Verlander is now up to 40 pitches before the third is over, after throwing just seven in the first.

Forsythe lines out, but the Dodgers keep managing to make an appearance by the Astros’ pen more likely with the way they’re handling Verlander.

Yuli Gurriel leads off the top of the second, and let me tell you so there is no confusion: the crowd is not saying “YUUUULI.” Those boos are intense, and they stop long enough to let Rich Hill throw a pitch, and then they immediately resume.

Then there were cheers for Gurriel! Well, not for him so much as for him popping out foul.

Brian McCann follows that up with a fly out to left, and Rich Hill is doing pretty well to start here: he’s through 1-2/3 on just 20 pitches. Marwin Gonzalez grounds out to end the inning, and Hill is through two.

Justin Verlander is throwing 96, facing Cody Bellinger. Bellinger looked horrific at the start of the World Series, but he’s turned it on off late with extra-base hits — timely extra-base hits, too — and he seems like he’s once again a threat in the middle of this lineup. The Dodgers need that to keep up here.

Instead, Verlander gets Bellinger to swing at a pitch up and in that Bellinger probably should not have swung at. It looks so good coming out of Verlander’s hand, though: it’s not like Bellinger is the first good hitter to fall for that trick.

Hey, Verlander is mortal-ish! Yasiel Puig singles on a liner to center field, and the Dodgers have their first baserunner of Game 6. That brings up Joc Pederson with just the one out. Pederson is having himself a hell of a World Series, batting .364/.462/1.091, a line that includes a dinger against tonight’s Astros’ starter.

Pederson strikes out, but the good news for the Dodgers in this inning so far is that Verlander has now thrown more pitches than Hill despite his enviably efficient first inning. There is more than one route to victory for the Dodgers in Game 6, but pushing Verlander out of the game as early as possible to get to the soft underbelly of the Astros’ bullpen feels like the most effective path.

I can mix some more metaphors and sayings if you want. We’ve got time.

Forsythe fouls out, but not before getting six more pitches out of Verlander. Hill is at 24 pitches, Verlander at 30.

We’re back in Los Angeles for Game 6 — well, Grant Brisbee and Eric Stephen and the two teams competing tonight are, anyway. I’m live blogging from the other side of the country.

Rich Hill will take the mound for the Dodgers, and he won’t be lifted after 60 pitches this time around unless he’s somehow awful over his first 60 pitches. Dave Roberts already said as much before Game 6: the Dodgers know they need to try to get more out of Hill, especially when they need to win tonight to force a Game 7 tomorrow, and their relievers are already gassed.

The Astros will send George Springer, Alex Bregman, and Jose Altuve to the plate, their usual setup against lefties (and at this point, against anyone given Bregman’s big postseason).

The first pitch is a ball, but Rich Hill quickly made everyone forget that happened by striking out George Springer on the next three pitches. That brings up Alex Bregman, who won Game 5 with a walkoff in the bottom of the 10th back in Houston.

The World Series has been Bregman’s introduction to the baseball world at large, and he has made quite the first impression. He entered Game 6 batting .273/.320/.591 while playing exceptional defense at third, and he adds to that slash line with a single to give the Astros their first baserunner.

We’re two batters into this game and there hasn’t been a home run yet, what is going on?

Rich Hill gets Jose Altuve swinging, and that’s two outs, both by way of the K. That leaves driving Bregman in up to Carlos Correa, the Astros’ cleanup hitter and shortstop.

Correa has been the most consistent source of power for the Astros this postseason, as he’s slugging .615 across the three series, thanks to five homers and five doubles. Here, though, he just grounds out to third, and Turner tosses it to second to end the inning.

Justin Verlander starts off the bottom of the frame by getting Chris Taylor to make an out, which is not a usual thing for him! Taylor, I mean. He’s been getting leadoff hits, but not this time. Corey Seager doesn’t do any better, as he sees more pitches, but strikes out. Justin Turner finishes things off by popping out on the seventh pitch of the inning, so if you’re wondering why there isn’t more written about the bottom of this frame, well, seven pitches.