World Series: Astros Beat Braves to Win Game 2

It was no masterpiece, though. The game was ragged and became lopsided so quickly that much of the tension and interest was lost by the second inning. As with Game 1, it will not be recalled as a memorable World Series game.

Houston took advantage of sloppy play by Atlanta, and some luck, too, especially during a wacky second inning, in which eight batters came to the plate and four of them scored on a collection of lightly hit but well-placed balls that frustrated Atlanta starter Max Fried.

He did not pitch poorly, as evinced by the fact that Atlanta Manager Brian Snitker never had a relief pitcher warming up during the inning. He could see that the Astros were not bashing balls to the far reaches of the park. It was more that they kept finding holes in the defense, and Atlanta left fielder Eddie Rosario made a throwing error.

Fried surrendered five earned runs in five innings, but Snitker said he could not describe it as struggling.

“Balls that found holes, checked swings, we threw a ball away,” Snitker said. “It was just a weird inning.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/27/sports/baseball/astros-braves-world-series-game-2.html