Dusty Baker isn’t letting Houston Astros get lost in their own story during World Series

The Houston Astros used pitching to take home field advantage away from the Philadelphia Phillies. Now they will look to one of their top pitchers on Saturday to bring home the World Series title.

Facing a 2-1 disadvantage in the World Series heading into Game 4, the Houston Astros entered the pivotal contest coming off a beatdown at the hands of the Philadelphia Phillies, with the home team smacking five home runs on their way to a 7-0 win the night before. Momentum seemed to be on Philadelphia’s side, then Houston’s pitching took over the series and turned the course of the Fall Classic.

A combined no-hitter on Wednesday night from four Astros pitchers knotted the series, then pitching and defense pushed the Astros to a 3-2 win 24 hours later. Suddenly, it was the Phillies who were looking for answers.

Pitching has told the story for the Houston Astros in this World Series

Houston and Philadelphia now head to the Lone Star State with the Astros needing just one win to secure their first World Series title since 2017.

Momentum? It’s on the side of the Astros, and that’s a very important thing Houston manager Dusty Baker said during Friday’s meeting with the media.

“I believe that momentum shifts from day to day,” Baker said. “And I think a lot of it, most of the momentum is carried by the pitcher. If a guy’s dealing, it doesn’t matter what you did yesterday or it doesn’t matter what you’re going to do tomorrow.”

It’s easy to see that Houston pitchers were dealing during a no-hitter on Wednesday night, but perhaps the biggest momentum-grabber of all came on Thursday when Justin Verlander exorcised some of his World Series demons to earn his first Fall Classic victory in nine starts.

Verlander gave up a solo homer to Kyle Schwarber (part of Schwarber’s history-making home run binge in the postseason) on the second pitch of the game, making Houston fans wonder if another 2022 postseason clunker of an outing was coming from the AL Cy Young Award favorite. However, Verlander settled in after Schwarber’s shot, working around three other hits and four walks to keep the Phillies from scoring any more runs during his 5.0 innings of work.

“I mean, initially you’re like, ‘You know, that sucks.’ But as a starting pitcher, been there, done that,” Verlander said. “It just sucks because of the moment and obviously all the questions and weight. But you have to rely on the hundreds of starts and the thousands of pitches I’ve thrown before and just kind of say, ‘OK, I’ve given up leadoff home runs before. Let me bear down. It’s not going to be indicative of what’s going to happen the rest of the game, by any means. Let’s see what happens.'”

What happened next was Verlander finding his rhythm, then handing the game over to an Astros bullpen that has been solid all postseason. Jean Segura’s eighth-inning RBI single on Thursday night pulled the Phillies within 3-2 and broke an impressive streak for Houston relievers.

Now, Houston will look to keep that momentum on the mound going with Framber Valdez getting the start in Game 6. The southpaw has allowed just 12 hits in 19.0 postseason innings covering three starts, including limiting Philadelphia to four hits over 6.1 innings in a Game 2 victory.

Momentum? It looks good wearing orange in Baker’s eyes.

“This is his turn, number one, and he’s on normal days’ rest,” Baker said of Valdez. “This guy, he’s been a big-game guy for us since he first got to this league. And that’s kind of rare for a guy to have been in that position so many times at this point in his career.

“So Framber, he pitched well against ’em last time. He pitches well home and road, but especially at home. Hey, man, why not?”