World Series pitchers really weren’t kidding when they said something was different about the baseballs being used in the final round of the MLB postseason.
George Springer didn’t just hit the cover off the ball with his 448-foot, game-tying home run in the bottom half of the seventh inning of his Houston Astros‘ wild Game 5 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers—he made it explode into smithereens.
At least, that’s how some fortuitously placed pyrotechnics made it look.
George Springer = clutch.
We’re tied again (have we said that already?) #WorldSeries #EarnHistory pic.twitter.com/chCLkK6Pow
— Houston Astros (@ChatAstros) October 30, 2017
Here’s another angle.
George Springer made this ball explode….. 😳pic.twitter.com/uNPyiqS93B
— Baseball King™ (@BasebaIlKing) October 30, 2017
According to the guy who operates the massive toy train that runs around the top of Minute Maid Park, the ball is intact but bruised.
George Springer did this.#EarnHistory #WorldSeries @MLBONFOX pic.twitter.com/fTCDAcQzc7
— Bobby Dynamite 🚂⚾ (@AstrosTrainGuy) October 30, 2017
Springer’s solo shot was a prelude to a four-run frame that gave his team an 11-8 lead.
After the teams traded single runs in the eighth, the Dodgers exploded for three runs against Chris Devenski in the top of the ninth to force extra innings.
That set the stage for Alex Bregman’s walk-off single in the 10th for a 13-12 win.
What were you doing at 23? @ABREG_1 is doing THIS. #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/FS3u4XxTJw
— MLB (@MLB) October 30, 2017
“I thought Game 2 was probably the best baseball game I ever played in,” the third baseman said, referring to the contest in which the teams broke the record for dingers in a World Series game. “It was unbelievable, the huge homer and all the home runs that were hit. I didn’t think that would ever be topped; I thought that would be the best game I ever played in my career.
“Who knows where this one ranks, right up there with that game—back and forth, the two best teams in baseball fighting to the very end and going toe to toe with each other. Everybody was used on both teams, pretty much, every single player. It was special for us to come out on top.”
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