What you need to know about Game 6 of the World Series:
Wrapping up a championship
For the first time since 1995, and for only the second time since moving to Atlanta in 1966, the Braves are World Series champions. They made a long, difficult season look easy on the final day, routing the Houston Astros 7-0 in Game 6 at Minute Maid Park on Tuesday night. Three home runs backed a dominant starting-pitching performance by Max Fried as the Braves, who had a losing record at the All-Star break and didn’t get above .500 until early August, won the World Series four games to two. They won the championship despite losing Ronald Acuna for the season in July, despite not having Mike Soroka all season, despite losing Charlie Morton to a broken leg early in World Series Game 1. A wildly improbable season ended with the Braves on top of the world.
Fried pitches like an ace
For the most part, starting pitchers had unusually limited impact in this World Series. But in the final game, Fried – a prototypical World Series starter – pitched like the ace he is. He dominated the team that scored the most runs in the major leagues this season, holding the Astros to four hits -- all singles -- in six scoreless innings. He struck out six, walked none, threw 74 pitches and turned a 7-0 lead over to the bullpen for the final three innings. After Houston’s first two batters of the game reached base on an infield hit and an error, Fried allowed only three of the other 19 batters he faced to reach, two of whom were quickly erased by double plays. The Braves’ 27-year-old left-hander fully delivered on the goal he expressed the day before Game 6: He said he wanted to “redeem” himself after disappointing performances in his past two postseason starts.
Series MVP Soler’s massive homer
Two nights after Adam Duvall gave the Braves a 4-0 lead with a first-inning grand slam, Jorge Soler gave them a 3-0 lead with a third-inning three-run homer. This time, the early lead held. Soler’s 446-foot, 109-mph-off-the-bat blast over the train tracks beyond left field came on the eighth pitch of the at-bat against Astros rookie starter Luis Garcia. After fouling off two full-count pitches, Soler destroyed a Garcia breaking ball. The homer scored Ozzie Albies, who had led off the inning with a single, and Eddie Rosario, who had walked with two outs. The homer was Soler’s third of the series, matching the Braves’ franchise record for homers in a single World Series. One of four outfielders acquired by general manager Alex Anthopoulos in July, Soler was voted unanimously World Series MVP.
Swanson’s add-on homer
Dansby Swanson hit his second home run of the series -- a two-run shot to left field with one out in the fifth inning -- to increase the Braves’ 3-0 lead to a more comfortable 5-0. The homer came against Cristian Javier, the same Houston reliever against whom Swanson hit a game-tying homer in the seventh inning of the Braves’ Game 4 victory.
Of course, Freeman comes through
Appropriately, Freddie Freeman -- a Brave since 2010 -- punctuated his team’s big night by driving in their final two runs. He doubled to the left-center wall with two outs in the fifth inning against reliever Blake Taylor to score Soler, who walked, for a 6-0 lead. Then he drilled a solo home run to center in the seventh against Ryne Stanek.
Bullpen finishes the job
The Braves were in the enviable position of turning a 7-0 lead over to relievers who have been dominant this postseason. Tyler Matzek took care of two innings, retiring three consecutive batters after a leadoff single in the seventh and striking out the side in the eighth. Will Smith handled the ninth inning, getting three consecutive outs after a leadoff single to wrap up a championship season.
Reordering lineup pays off
A seemingly minor tweak in the Braves’ batting order, dropping Albies from third to seventh, paid off. Hitting .167 in the World Series entering the game, he went 2-for-3, reached base three times and scored twice. He delivered the Braves’ first hit of the game, a single to right-center leading off the third inning, and scored on Soler’s homer. He walked to lead off the fifth inning and scored on Swanson’s homer.
Notable
-- The home runs by Soler, Swanson and Freeman gave the Braves 11 homers in the series, accounting for 18 of their 25 runs (72%). The Astros hit only two homers in the series, both by Jose Altuve.
-- The Braves’ pitching staff delivered two shutouts in six games against the high-powered Astros. Ian Anderson and four relievers combined on a shutout in Game 3.
-- The Braves finished the season without losing back-to-back games after Sept. 18. They were 23-7 from then until now.
-- Fried made his ninth career postseason start, fifth-most in Braves franchise history behind Tom Glavine (32), John Smoltz (27), Greg Maddux (27) and Steve Avery (12).
-- The first six spots in the Braves’ batting order Tuesday included four players acquired in July: Eddie Rosario batted leadoff, Soler second, Duvall fifth and Joc Pederson sixth.
-- Matzek pitched in his 13th game this postseason.
-- Soler became the third player in Braves history to be named World Series MVP since the award began in 1955, joining pitchers Tom Glavine (1995) and Lew Burdette (1957).
