Houston’s Alex Bregman celebrates with his teammates after scoring on a hit by Marwin Gonzalez in Game 5 of the World Series on Sunday night in Atlanta. The Astros sent the series back to Houston, avoiding elimination with a 9-5 victory. Ashley Landis/Associated Press
ATLANTA — Just in time, Carlos Correa and the Houston Astros broke out the bats.
If they had waited any longer, this World Series would’ve been over.
Staggered by Adam Duvall’s grand slam in the first inning Sunday night, Correa and Alex 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 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 won it.
A parade of Braves pitchers found out they couldn’t hold down the Astros forever 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.
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 in the bottom of the third 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 comeback 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 was added to the Braves roster the next day in Houston.
It made for a cute story, but Houston was buying.
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 series. Minter took the loss.
IN A PINCH
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.
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