Atlanta Braves finish off Houston Astros for first World Series championship since 1995
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HOUSTON — After Dansby Swanson fielded the final out of the 2021 World Series, a chopper from Yuli Gurriel, he briefly glared at Atlanta Braves teammate Ozzie Albies. Seconds earlier, Albies had assured Swanson he would be standing on second base to record Tuesday’s 27th out. When he wasn’t, Swanson had to pivot to complete the most important throw of his life — and maybe that was fitting.
Swanson grew up 20 miles from Atlanta and was raised to love the local baseball team. Before he graduated high school, Freddie Freeman ascended to the major leagues and began to establish himself as one of the sport’s greatest first basemen. They became teammates, helped lead the Braves into another resurgence and grew close through the process. On this night, in Game 6 of the World Series, they connected on the final out that cemented a 7-0 victory over the Houston Astros and capped the Braves improbable ascendance.
They were ravaged by injuries early, dismissed as late as August and counted out at practically every juncture of these playoffs, but the 2021 Braves — with a brand-new outfield at midseason and a depleted starting rotation by the end — are World Series champions for the first time since 1995. They rode a dominant Max Fried, rolled after Jorge Soler’s prodigious home run and ended it on Swanson’s throw to Freeman, who dropped to a knee, raised both hands in the air and then mobbed his teammates near the pitcher’s mound at Houston’s Minute Maid Park.
“We hit every pothole, every bump you could possibly hit this year, and somehow the car still made it onto the other side,” Freeman said. “It’s just an incredible group.”
Fried, coming off a rough outing six days earlier, mowed down the Astros’ high-powered offense through six scoreless innings, retiring 16 of 19 hitters after a scary ankle injury. But it was Soler who put a jolt into an offense that ultimately cranked out four timely extra-base hits, three of which went over the fence. Soler’s cleared the…
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Source : espn
