Kind of had to be this way, right?
After what took place in the first five games of the 113th World Series, it just had to, had to, go seven games.
![Justin Verlander suffered his first loss as an Astro.](http://web.archive.org./web/20171101214833im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/z/c/q/5/2/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gzcosr.png/1509511888945.jpg)
The Dodgers made it happen on Wednesday [AEDT], rallying against Justin Verlander and beating the Astros 3-1 in front of a loud Dodger Stadium gathering of 54,128 that rarely sat down. Game seven is on Tuesday [AEDT] as the Astros will try for their first championship and the Dodgers will go for their first since 1988.
Verlander, Houston's horse all postseason, retired 15 of the first 16 he faced, taking a 1-0 lead into the sixth inning. But the Dodgers got to the 34-year-old, scoring twice, the first run coming on a double by Chris Taylor and the second on Corey Seager's sacrifice fly. Verlander, who allowed two runs and three hits and struck out nine, took his first loss as an Astro.
![Los Angeles Dodgers](http://web.archive.org./web/20171101214833im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/z/c/o/h/s/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gzcosr.png/1509511888945.jpg)
Joc Pederson punctuated his homer off Joe Musgrove in the seventh with an arm-waving trip around the bases that made any of the bat-flipping exercises by both sides in this homer-happy Series seem tame by comparison. It gave the Dodgers a 3-1 lead.
Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts, who before the game said his plan was to ask for no more than three outs from tank-nearing-empty closer Kenley Jansen, asked for six.
He got them as Jansen retired six straight for the save. He has been roughed up a couple of times in the series, most recently when he took the loss in Houston's wild, 13-12 game five victory.
Roberts, hammered by many for his bullpen moves in in game five, came up aces in game six. He pulled Rich Hill, who permitted only one hit on his first turn through the Astros batting order. The reverie ended when Houston outfielder George Springer came up with two outs in the third. Hill allowed a 90-mph fastball to drift over the plate. Springer cranked a solo shot, his fourth homer in six games, over the right-field fence. Hill allowed one run and four hits over 4 2/3 innings.
Roberts replaced him with Brandon Morrow. The right-hander, torched for four runs in game five, pitched a scoreless inning. His most important moment was retiring Alex Bregman with two out and two on to end the fifth and keep it a 1-0 deficit.
Tony Watson stranded two in the sixth. Kenta Maeda, who allowed Jose Altuve's three-run homer that tied Sunday's game at 7, retired Altuve with two on in the seventh on a groundout. A bang-bang play at first kept the tying run from scoring from third.
It was the most unexpected of pitchers' duels after what preceded it.
The Dodger Stadium stands will teem with humanity once more when game seven arrives for the first time since the doors were opening in 1962. Could you expect any less? Could you ask for any more? The baseball gods may not answer letters, but they do allow dreams to flourish.
MCT with Los Angeles Times