World Series Game 5: Braves host Astros needing one more win for the club’s fourth title

The World Series is going back to Houston.

Facing a 3-1 deficit heading into Sunday’s Game 5 in Atlanta, the Astros clawed back from an early 4-0 hole to pull out a 9-5 win and force Game 6 on Tuesday night.

Braves fans had hoped to see their club win its fourth ever title on Sunday and its second since moving to Atlanta in 1966.

Instead, the Braves are facing the specter of baseball history: Only 14 Major League clubs have ever dropped a best-of-seven postseason series after leading 3-1.   

Such a scenario was unthinkable in the first inning after Braves centerfielder Adam Duvall launched a grand slam to deep right-center field.

But the Astros’ bats, which had gone quiet for much of the series, started to awaken in the second and Houston tied the game at 4 by the third inning thanks to RBI doubles by Carlos Correa and Alex Bregman.

After Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman hit his own 460-foot homer to right-center, Houston’s offense took over.

Even light-hitting catcher Martin Maldonado got into the act on Sunday night with three RBIs, including a bases-loaded walk.   

Houston Astros Jose Altuve (R) and Carlos Correa (L) celebrate after defeating the Atlanta Braves in Sunday’s Game 5

Alex Bregman #2 and Yuli Gurriel #10 of the Houston Astros celebrate the team’s 9-5 win on Sunday in Atlanta 

At least one Astros fan in Atlanta was seen celebrating on Sunday night as Houston picked up a crucial Game 5 victory 

Braves fans don their rally caps in a futile attempt at a comeback against the Astros on Sunday night’s World Series Game 5

Houston Astros closing pitcher Kendall Graveman (R) celebrates with teammates after defeating the Atlanta Braves in game five of the Major League Baseball World Series between the American League Champion Houston Astros and the National League Champion Atlanta Braves

Alex Bregman #2 of the Houston Astros throws out an Atlanta Braves runner during the eighth inning on Sunday 

Astros second baseman Jose Altuve (No. 27) celebrates Sunday’s Game 5 win over the Braves with his Houston teammates

Alex Bregman #2 of the Houston Astros is congratulated by Yuli Gurriel #10 after scoring a run against the Atlanta Braves

Adam Duvall #14 of the Atlanta Braves celebrates as he rounds the bases after hitting a grand slam home run against the Houston Astros during the first inning in Game Five of the World Series at Truist Park on Sunday

Martin Maldonado added three RBIs at the plate, but also made a few plays for the Astros behind the plate on Sunday night

Staggered by Adam Duvall’s grand slam in the first inning, Correa and Bregman ended their slumps in a hurry. They kept swinging, refusing to let their season slip away and rallying past the Atlanta Braves 9-5 early Monday to cut their Series deficit to 3-2.

The Braves might not admit it was a deflating defeat, their 66-year-old manager Brian Snitker is too steady and savvy for that. But by any measure in the Analytics Age, this had to sting.

Correa, moved up to third in the lineup for Game 5 while Bregman was dropped to seventh, delivered three hits. Martin Maldonado found three different ways to drive in runs and pinch-hitter Marwin Gonzalez blooped a two-out, two-run single in the fifth inning for a 7-5 lead.

A matchup of bullpens turned into the first high-scoring game of this Fall Classic, and the highest-scoring team in the majors this year won it.

Couldn’t hold down the Astros forever, a parade of Braves pitchers found out as the clock passed midnight and the calendar flipped to November.

Correa gained attention earlier this postseason for marking big hits by pointing at his wrist, where a watch might be. His time, he said.

Jose Altuve (left) and Carlos Correa (right) share a laugh 

The star shortstop doubled and singled twice, driving in two runs. His single in the eighth inning padded the lead and as Altuve got congrats in the dugout after scoring, the Fox TV mics picked up someone on the bench yelling ‘It’s time!’

A night earlier, the Astros went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position in a 3-2 loss. That left Correa at 2 for 14 overall in the series and Bregman worse at 1 for 14.

Atlanta had been 7-0 at home in the postseason, and a boisterous crowd inside Truist Park and packed plaza outside came early hoping to celebrate a long-awaited championship.

Duvall’s slam sent a dozen Braves careening from the dugout, a full-out frenzy of hollering, twirling and dancing.

But any victory party was premature, even after Freddie Freeman’s long homer put Atlanta ahead 5-4.

Instead, manager Dusty Baker’s club hushed the fans and the Braves, pulling off a big comeback to stay afloat.

Now, the Astros need an even bigger one to win it all.

Game 6 is Tuesday night in Houston.

No team has clinched a World Series at home since the 2013 Red Sox. For Jose Altuve and the Astros to do it, they must win twice at Minute Maid Park — the last club to overcome a 3-1 Series deficit was the Cubs against Cleveland in 2016.

Down 4-0 after Duvall tagged Framber Valdez, the Astros began to chip away against Tucker Davidson.

Davidson wasn’t even on the postseason roster a week ago. Relaxing at a hotel in the Atlanta suburbs, chowing down a takeout salad from The Cheesecake Factory, the rookie saw Game 1 starter Charlie Morton get hurt and joined the Braves the next day in Houston.

It made for a cute story, but Houston was buying.

Atlanta Braves fans expected to see the club’s fourth title on Sunday. Instead they be forced to watch and hope on Tuesday

Bregman hit an RBI double that ended the Astros’ rut with runners in scoring position and Maldonado — 4 for 41 in the postseason at that point — followed with a sacrifice fly that pulled them to 4-2.

An error by shortstop Dansby Swanson helped Houston tie it in the third. Altuve reached on the misplay and Michael Brantley walked, ending Davidson’s day. Correa greeted reliever Jesse Chavez with an RBI double and a run-scoring grounder by Yuli Gurriel made it 4-all.

Freeman untied it moments later, connecting for a 460-foot home run that matched the longest of his career.

But having finally gotten loose at the plate, the Astros weren’t going quietly on this night.

Singles by Correa and Gurriel and a two-out intentional walk to Bregman loaded the bases in the fifth. Lefty reliever A.J. Minter lost Maldonado for a walk that tied it, and Gonzalez singled for the lead.

Maldonado added an RBI single in the seventh and Correa extended the lead the next inning.

José Urquidy pitched an inning for his second win of the season. Minter took the loss.

Astros right-hander Zack Greinke got the first pinch-hit by an American League pitcher in World Series history, lining a single in the fourth. He also got a hit when he started Game 4.

The previous hit by a pinch-hitting pitcher in the Series came way back in 1923 by Jack Bentley of the New York Giants. Bentley had two of them against the Yankees in that matchup after batting .427 during the regular season.

A pair of Braves fans do the ‘tomahawk chop’ chant and arm gesture during Game 5 of the World Series on Sunday in Atlanta

The Braves’ early hitting was accompanied by the fans’ controversial ‘tomahawk chop’ chant, which has been derided by Native American groups as racist and insulting, but defended by everyone from team executives to former President Donald Trump. In fact, Trump and wife Melania performed the arm gesture while attending Game 4 in Atlanta on Saturday. 

The Braves are among the last holdouts using Native American branding in professional sports after both the Washington Football Team (nee: Redskins) and the Cleveland Guardians (nee: Indians) agreed to change their names in 2020. 

Previously, in July of 2020, Braves Chairman Terry McGuirk and team president Derek Schiller said they spoke with various leaders from the Eastern Band of Cherokees, based in North Carolina, who remained in favor the name and chant. However, groups including the Atlanta Indigenous Peoples Association disagree, saying they were not consulted and vehemently oppose the chop chant.

‘We are frequently faced with that misrepresentation or that warrior savage imagery that our ancestors were killed for,’ said Laura Cummings Balgari, co-director of the association, as quoted by CNN. ‘Generally, we are represented as artifacts, people that aren’t really real.’   

Atlanta Indigenous Peoples Association co-director Laura Cummings Balgari, (right) rejects Manfred’s claim, saying her group was not consulted and vehemently oppose the chop chant. Crystal EchoHawk (left), executive director and founder of IllumiNative, said the chop chant is both ‘racist’ and ‘dehumanizing.’ (Left) A fan holds up a sign proclaiming the ‘chop’ is ‘racist.’

The Braves’ hot hitting was accompanied by the fans’ ‘tomahawk chop’ chant, which has been derided by Native American groups as offensive, but defended by everyone from team executives to former President Donald Trump. In fact, Trump and wife Melania performed the gesture, often described as racist, while attending Game 4 in Atlanta on Saturday. The Braves are among the last holdouts using Native American branding in professional sports after both the Washington Football Team (nee: Redskins) and the Cleveland Guardians (nee: Indians) agreed to change their names in 2020. Previously, in July of 2020, Braves Chairman Terry McGuirk and team president Derek Schiller said they spoke with various leaders from the Eastern Band of Cherokees, based in North Carolina , who remained in favor the name and chant

Complaints about the ‘tomahawk chop’ haven’t made the chant or gesture any less popular among Atlanta Braves fans

National Congress of American Indians President Fawn Sharp added a sharply worded statement on Wednesday. 

‘The name ”Braves,” the tomahawk adorning the team’s uniform, and the ”tomahawk chop” that the team exhorts its fans to perform at home games are meant to depict and caricature not just one tribal community but all Native people, and that is certainly how baseball fans and Native people everywhere interpret them,’ National Congress of American Indians President Fawn Sharp said in a statement on Wednesday.

‘In our discussions with the Atlanta Braves, we have repeatedly and unequivocally made our position clear — Native people are not mascots, and degrading rituals like the ‘tomahawk chop’ that dehumanize and harm us have no place in American society,’ Scott added.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred was, presumably, referencing that 2020 exchange last week when he cited local support for the name and chant during a press conference. 

‘The Native American community in that region is wholly supportive of the Braves program, including the chop,’ Manfred said Tuesday. ‘For me, that’s kind of the end of the story. In that market, we’re taking into account the Native American community.’  

There is some disagreement over the Braves’ team name, with the Atlanta Indigenous People Association and other groups supporting it, but the tomahawk chop chant is reviled by many organizations.

‘This does not honor Cherokee traditions, nor do they honor our fellow tribes,’ read a statement the Cherokee Nation, the largest US tribe, which opposes face paint, war chanting, or anything else that mocks Native Americans.

‘The 574 federally recognized Native American tribes are each distinct, sovereign governments with their own unique history, culture and language, and should be respected as such, not as stereotypes or mischaracterizations or derogatory terms.’ 

A fan holds a sign stating ‘the chop is racist’ during the ninth inning in Game One of the World Series during the ninth inning at Minute Maid Park on Tuesday in Houston

Amid ongoing controversy over the Braves’ name and ‘tomahawk chop’ chant, several fans were seen wearing headdresses 

Crystal EchoHawk, executive director and founder of IllumiNative, said the chop chant is both ‘racist’ and ‘dehumanizing.’

‘There’s zero rationale for the team to hold on to this any longer,’ EchoHawk said. ‘I think it says that the franchise is very much a part of perpetuating and condoning racism full stop.’

Manfred’s decision to accept input from only one Native American group doesn’t sit well with the Oklahoma-based Muscogee Nation.

‘I think on a subject like that and when you’re dealing with Indian country you have to look at it as a whole instead of one or two specific places,’ Jason Salsman, press secretary for the Muscogee Nation, told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Richard Sneed, principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, would like to see more outrage about what he says are far bigger issues facing Native Americans, including poverty, unemployment, child abuse, sexual assaults and suicide.

‘I’m not offended by somebody waving their arm at a sports game,’ Sneed told the AP on Tuesday. ‘I’m just not. If somebody is, that’s their prerogative, it’s their right. They can be offended. … I don’t know very many, maybe one or two, from my tribe who say, `Yeah, I don’t like that.’ But at the end of the day, we’ve got bigger issues to deal with.’

Sneed said the problems with crime and poverty remain largely ignored when the national attention has been on team names and the tomahawk chop.

‘There’s just so much happening and the frustrating part for me as a tribal leader is when the only issue that seems to be discussed is … ”How offended are you by the chop and should the Braves change their name?”

‘Really, it’s the least of our problems, I guess is what I’m saying.’  

Houston Astros’ Carlos Correa celebrates after an RBI-double during the third inning on Sunday night in Atlanta 

Freddie Freeman then put the Braves back on top, 5-4, in the third inning with a home run to deep right-center field

Adam Duvall stands in centerfield, where the Braves honored franchise legend Hank Aaron following his death in January

A few fans wear headdresses prior to Game Five of the World Series between the Astros and Braves in Atlanta 

A fan holds a sign prior to Game Five between the Houston Astros and the Atlanta Braves of the World Series at Truist Park

A fan dressed for halloween is seen at Game 5 of the World Series on Sunday at Atlanta’s Truist Park 

Tucker Davidson #64 of the Atlanta Braves warms up prior to Game Five of the World Series

Doug (R) with daughter Sydney of Atlanta and dressed as Thing 1 and Thing 2 for Halloween during Sunday’s Game 5

A fan looks on prior to Game Five of the World Series between the Houston Astros and the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park

A Atlanta Braves fan holds up a sign during batting practice before Game 5 of the World Series against the Houston Astros

A fan watches during batting practice before Game 5 of the World Series on Sunday at Atlanta’s Truist Park

Hall of Famer Greg Maddux threw out the ceremonial first pitch earlier in the evening. Maddux, wearing his Braves jersey, tipped his cap in response to an ovation from fans as he walked onto the field. Fittingly, he threw the pitch to Eddie Perez, who was often his designated catcher. Perez, also a former Braves coach, now is a special advisor for player development for the team. Maddux won four consecutive Cy Young Awards for the Chicago Cubs and the Braves, including in 1995 when he posted a remarkable 19-2 record with a 1.63 ERA for Atlanta’s 1995 World Series champion team. It was a rare Atlanta appearance for ‘Mad Dog’ Maddux. The 55-year-old Maddux is the pitching coach for UNLV 

: A fan holds a sign in Game Five of the World Series between the Houston Astros and the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park 

DONALD AND MELANIA TRUMP DO TOMAHAWK CHOP

Only months after calling for a boycott of Major League Baseball, former President Donald Trump did the tomahawk chop with Atlanta Braves fans at Game 4 of the World Series on Saturday night.

Trump stood beside former first lady Melania, as they chopped away with fans before the game between the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros from a private suite.

It was the first time Melania had been seen in public since July, when she was spotted leaving the Trump Tower in New York City with son Barron, and the first time she had been seen with her husband since April.

Trump was expected to be joined by political allies, including US Senate candidate Herschel Walker.

Former President Donald Trump and his wife Melania perform the tomahawk chop before for Game 4 of baseball’s World Series between the Houston Astros and the Atlanta Braves

The Tomahawk Chop sees people move their arm forwards and backwards with an open palm, simulating chopping that would be done with a Tomahawk, a single-handed ax, originally constructed by Native Americans.

Among the reasons the chop has been slammed for being offensive and promoting a racist stereotype or caricature of Native Americans.  

‘The name ”Braves,” the tomahawk adorning the team’s uniform, and the ”tomahawk chop” that the team exhorts its fans to perform at home games are meant to depict and caricature not just one tribal community but all Native people, and that is certainly how baseball fans and Native people everywhere interpret them,’ National Congress of American Indians President Fawn Sharp said in a statement on Wednesday.

‘In our discussions with the Atlanta Braves, we have repeatedly and unequivocally made our position clear — Native people are not mascots, and degrading rituals like the ‘tomahawk chop’ that dehumanize and harm us have no place in American society,’ Scott added.

Trump released a statement in a mass email to his supporters Saturday about his planned World Series appearance:

‘Looking forward to being at the World Series in Atlanta tonight. Thank you to the Commissioner of Baseball Rob Manfred, and Randy Levine, president of the New York Yankees, for the invite. Melania and I are looking forward to a wonderful evening watching two great teams!’

MLB denied ever making the invitation and said in a statement, ‘He requested to attend the game.’

Among the reasons the chop is offensive is because it promotes a racist stereotype or caricature of Native Americans but the Trump’s followed thousands of others in the crowd

Former football player and political candidate Herschel Walker interacts with former first lady and president of the United States Melania and Donald Trump. Trump was an owner of the New Jersey Generals when Walker played for the team in the now-defunct league, and they have maintained a relationship

The visit to Truist Park provided Trump an opportunity to be seen with Walker, the former University of Georgia Heisman Trophy winner and running back with the Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings and USFL New Jersey Generals.

Trump was an owner of the Generals when Walker played for the team in the now-defunct league, and they have maintained a relationship. Trump has encouraged Walker to run for Senate.

Indigenous peoples advocacy groups say the Braves’ name and ‘tomahawk chop’ chant are both racist, but the Trump’s went ahead and did it anyway

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell endorsed Walker on Wednesday. Walker is seeking to unseat Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock.

Trump encouraged a boycott of MLB games after Manfred removed the All-Star Game from Atlanta. The game instead was held in Denver. 

President Joe Biden supported moving the game, though some Braves fans and businesses near Truist Park complained they were being unfairly punished.

Manfred’s decision announced in April followed a protest of Georgia’s new voting law, which includes an ID requirement for mail-in votes. Critics say the law will negatively affect communities of color.

Trump may have selected Atlanta in hopes of a more positive reception than he received in his last World Series appearance. When still in office, he was booed when he sat in the stands at Game 5 of the 2019 World Series between the Astros and Washington at Nationals Park.

Trump was not shown on the Truist Park video board before the game however one moment that was caught on camera between former president Trump together with his wife Melania happened when the former first lady’s smile quickly drain away from her face.

It came just as the crowd had been cheering for the couple who even joined in the Braves signature ‘Tomahawk’ gesture prior to the start of the game.

Trump and Melania were both seen to be smiling broadly with the former president looking comfortable as he gestured and pointed to spectators who were waving back to him.

While television cameras were trained on the couple, Melania suddenly appeared to grow tired of the wave and point routine, and quickly turned away, rolling her eyes and her signature smile gone in an instant.   

– Associated Press 

Advertisement