Atlanta Opens a Big Lead Over Houston in Game 1 of the World Series

It was an ankle injury that sent Charlie Morton to the clubhouse early. He had a comebacker hit him in the ankle in the second inning and he came down awkwardly on the same ankle in the third. A big loss for Atlanta.

Charlie Morton gave up one hit and no runs in tonight’s outing, which ended with one out in the third inning. But even though he exited with a five-run lead, he has no chance of being the winning pitcher: To qualify for a win, a starter must throw at least five innings.

Dusty Baker is managing his first World Series game since 2002, when his San Francisco Giants lost to the Angels in seven games. Baker seemed relaxed in his pregame interview, even imitating Houston starter Luis Garcia’s distinctive windup.

He was asked about his musical playlist for the day and about his famous striped wristbands, which he said are the same from the last three games of the American League Championship Series.

Charlie Morton is coming out of the game with an injury following a strikeout of Jose Altuve. It appeared to be some sort of lower-leg injury that occurred on his follow-through.

The Houston Astros are already into their bullpen and Atlanta has a 5-0 lead. It’s not looking good for the home team.

Eddie Rosario started off the third with a sharp grounder that sneaked its way through the shift for a single into right. Adam Duvall’s drive didn’t have to sneak anywhere as he connected with a changeup, sending it into the stands in left field for a two-run homer.

Framber Valdez’s day is over as he was replaced by Yimi Garcia following Adam Duvall’s two-run homer. He allowed five runs in two-plus innings of work, striking out two and walking one. He gave up two home runs.

We’ve spent a lot of time talking about Eddie Rosario and Joc Pederson during this Atlanta postseason. But don’t forget Adam Duvall, who hit that two-run homer and was a part of Atlanta’s summertime outfield rebuild. He played for Atlanta just last year, spent most of this season with the Marlins and then returned to Atlanta as a part of a deal just ahead of the trade deadline. Coming into tonight’s game, he was hitting .229 this postseason, including a triple and a homer.

Charlie Morton made quick work of Houston.

He retired Yuli Gurriel, the 2021 American League batting champion, on a comebacker that deflected off him to first baseman Freddie Freeman. He struck out Chas McCormick on four pitches. Then he got Martin Maldonado to line out to Freeman. It was a decidedly more relaxing inning that his hectic first.

Framber Valdez induced more ground ball outs than any other pitcher in the majors this year. But there is a red flag so far tonight for the Astros: Valdez has only induced two ground ball outs through his first 13 batters faced over two innings. He is leaving pitches up and Atlanta is hitting a smattering of line drives and fly balls. In fairness to Valdez, he could have two more ground ball outs but for Ozzie Albies. The speedy Atlanta second baseman beat out a high chopper in the first inning that Valdez fielded on the third-base side of the mound, then Albies beat out another ground ball to second baseman Jose Altuve in the second. Atlanta leads 3-0.

Atlanta is up 3-0, and it looks like Houston’s Framber Valdez does not have the same magic working that he mustered in his last start. Travis d’Arnaud started the inning off with an opposite-field single. Joc Pederson liked what he saw, so he did the same. With runners on first and second, Dansby Swanson hit a deep ball to center that was caught at the warning track but allowed both runners to advance.

Jorge Soler came up and hit a ball weakly to shortstop that allowed a run to score but also erased Pederson on the bases because of a baserunning mistake. Regardless, Soler is up to two R.B.I., which makes Manager Brian Snitker’s decision to bat him leadoff look incredibly smart.

Shohei Ohtani, the Los Angeles Angels superstar pitcher/slugger, was presented with the Commissioner’s Historic Achievement Award before the game. Ohtani, who hit 46 home runs and 8 triples while also going 9-2 with a 3.18 earned run average as a pitcher, received a warm ovation from the Houston crowd when he was introduced before the second inning, even though he plays for an American League rival.

“This award is not given out every year, so I know how special it is,” Ohtani said before the game. “I’m not fully sure if I really deserve it, but since Mr. Manfred’s going to give it to me, I’m going to accept it.”

The official scorer has changed the hit-by-pitch on Carlos Correa to a walk. Adjust your scorebooks accordingly.

Charlie Morton got his first out the hard way, sneaking a curve past Jose Altuve for an unexpected strike three of a player who has never struck out 100 times in a season. And the inning didn’t get much easier.

Michael Brantley followed Altuve with a single to right and Morton fell behind Alex Bregman, 3-0, but recovered to retire him on a grounder to first. That brought up Yordan Alvarez, the most valuable player of the American League Championship Series, with two outs and a runner on second. Morton appeared to want no part of Alvarez, walking him on five pitches with only the fourth pitch being anywhere near the strike zone.

It is incredibly loud inside the stadium, but much of it is the public address system pumping out music and the usual, “make some noise,” announcements. The P.A. system is louder than the fan noise, especially in the outfield seats, so when it is not active, the decibel level is not noticeably loud at all. Of course, Jorge Soler’s leadoff home run for Atlanta took a lot of steam out of the crowd.

Let’s briefly go back to Jorge Soler’s home run that gave Atlanta the lead that it has since grown. M.L.B. says it was the first-ever leadoff homer in the top of the first inning of a World Series Game 1. (Got that?) By the way, it came on a sinker that was moving 93 miles an hour, a bit slower than the first two pitches of the at-bat.

Supporters of the Astros and the Braves made their loyalties known at Minute Maid Park in Houston.

The scoring started awfully quickly. On the third pitch he saw, Jorge Soler, Atlanta’s leadoff batter, unloaded on a 93-mile-per-hour sinker, sending it 382 feet and over the high wall in left field for an immediate 1-0 lead. Three batters later, Austin Riley doubled home a second run.

Soler’s blast marked the first time a World Series began with a home run by the first batter.

As we get started here with Game 1 of the World Series, we’re reminded that while this is the Astros’ third World Series in five years, their last Fall Classic victory here at Minute Maid Park was way back in 2017, in Game 5 against the Los Angeles Dodgers. (The Astros had home-field advantage in 2019 and lost all four games to the Washington Nationals.) That last home win was a wild one: Houston beat the Dodgers 13-12 in 10 innings on Oct. 29, 2017, in a game that featured seven home runs.

Jorge Soler started the World Series with a home run for Atlanta. But he’s had an odd month: He tested positive for the coronavirus during the division series against Milwaukee and only returned to the Atlanta lineup during the National League Championship Series against the Dodgers.

Game 1 of the 2021 World Series is underway, with Houston’s Framber Valdez delivering a first pitch ball to Atlanta’s Jorge Soler. This should be a fun one.

The so-called Snitker Series begins.

Step into the visitors’ dugout at Minute Maid Park tonight and you will find Brian Snitker, Atlanta’s manager since 2016. Across the park, in the home dugout, is Troy Snitker, a hitting coach for the Astros and Brian Snitker’s son.

Minute Maid Park is getting very loud as fans settle into their seats and first pitch approaches. Both starting pitchers warmed up in their distinct ways before they head to their respective bullpens. Charlie Morton of Atlanta played a little long toss and then started an energetic knees-up, high step exercise before he resumed some short catch that stretched out to about 200 feet. Framber Valdez, the Houston starter, started off with a short game of catch with a heavy ball to loosen up his shoulder joint, and his long toss is something to behold. It looks as if he is firing little white missiles about 250 feet on a line.

HOUSTON — Eddie Rosario may be the hottest hitter on the planet, but after batting leadoff in five of the six N.L. Championship Series games against Los Angeles, knocking out 14 hits and being named as series M.V.P., Jorge Soler’s return to the lineup has dropped Rosario down to fifth in Atlanta’s lineup for Game 1 of the World Series.

The reason? Left-hander Framber Valdez is starting for Houston. The only time Rosario did not lead off in the N.L.C.S., the Dodgers had started lefty Julio Urias. Soler, who was activated from the Covid-19 list before Game 5 of the N.L.C.S., bats right-handed. Tonight is his first start since being cleared.

Here’s the answer to our earlier question about pitchers (like Charlie Morton) who have started World Series games for three different teams since 1980. The other five are: Roger Clemens (Red Sox, Yankees, Astros); Danny Jackson (Royals, Reds, Phillies); John Lackey (Angels, Red Sox, Cubs); Jack Morris (Tigers, Twins, Blue Jays) and Curt Schilling (Phillies, Diamondbacks, Red Sox).

There are all kinds of M.V.P.s at this year’s World Series. There’s Freddie Freeman, who won the 2020 N.L. Most Valuable Player Award. And Jose Altuve, who won the 2017 A.L. M.V.P.

There are League Championship Series M.V.P.s (Yordan Alvarez, Eddie Rosario, Justin Verlander, Altuve, Dusty Baker) and an All-Star M.V.P. (Alex Bregman).

I’m very proud (OK, irrationally proud) of an extremely odd skill: I can name the starting pitchers for every World Series game since 1979, and every final play since 1960. Charlie Morton appears on both lists: He started Game 4 for Houston in 2017, got the last out in Game 7 of that World Series, and started Game 3 for Tampa Bay in 2020.

Morton starts for Atlanta in Game 1, making him the first pitcher ever to get the last out of the World Series for one team, then face that team in a later World Series. But there’s more, with a hat tip to Michael Medvin of the YES Network: Tonight, Morton will become the sixth pitcher since 1980 to start for three different teams in the World Series. How many of the others can you name?

With Houston hosting Game 1 and enjoying home-field advantage, Atlanta will bat first tonight. But it’s a wonder Atlanta is even in the game; in fact, it’s somewhat amazing Atlanta made the postseason at all.

Injuries. Off-field turmoil. Early losses. They all fed a sense of disarray and disappointment around a team, seen before opening day as a contender, that did not have a winning record until Aug. 6.

The experience gap in Game 1’s pitching matchup is wide. Atlanta’s Charlie Morton, a 37-year-old right-hander, is in his 14th season and has 16 career postseason appearances (15 starts). This is his third World Series, and in his most memorable postseason moment — which was his lone relief appearance — he threw four solid innings to close out Game 7 of the 2017 World Series, securing the Astros their first championship.

Framber Valdez, 27, is in his fourth season but had never started more than 10 games in a year until 2021. He caught on quickly, with a 3.14 E.R.A. in 22 starts. Like Morton, though, Valdez is no stranger to the postseason: This will be his eighth appearance (seventh start) over the last two Octobers; he won three games in Houston’s playoff run last year. While he got off to a slow start in the 2021 playoffs, his last start was an eight-inning masterpiece that was the longest appearance by any starter this postseason.

Watching the 2021 World Series is fairly straightforward.

• Who: The Atlanta Braves vs. the Houston Astros

• What: The 117th World Series

• When: Game 1 begins tonight at 8:09 p.m. Eastern

• Where: Minute Maid Park, Houston

• Watch: The games will be broadcast on Fox and can be streamed on various services like FuboTV, Hulu Live and YouTube TV.