One win away from its first championship since 1995, Atlanta will host Houston in a potentially decisive Game 5.
One win away from its first championship since 1995, Atlanta will host Houston in a potentially decisive Game 5. By Alan Blinder Tucker Davidson, a Wednesday addition to Atlanta’s World Series roster, will open Game 5 for Atlanta, which will rely on its bullpen to navigate the night. It will be the first career postseason appearance for Davidson, who replaced Charlie Morton for the Series after Morton left Game 1 with a fractured right leg. In fact, Davidson, a 25-year-old left-hander, has little experience of any kind in the major leagues. He has appeared in just five games for Atlanta in the last two seasons and started four games in 2021, when he allowed 15 hits and eight earned runs over 20 innings. He has not played in a major league game since June 15, when he exited during an appearance against Boston. He later went on the injured list with forearm trouble but avoided Tommy John surgery. “We’ll just go with him as long as he’ll let us take him,” Brian Snitker, Atlanta’s manager, said on Sunday. Snitker added that Davidson was “ready,” his inexperience and troubles this year aside. “He’s another one that he’s been through all the levels of all our organization, and we really liked what we saw out of him early in the year before he had his problems,” Snitker said. Houston is deploying Framber Valdez, a left-hander who started Game 1 and took the loss. In two innings in Houston on Tuesday, he gave up eight hits and five runs. But in Valdez’s previous postseason start, Game 5 of the American League Championship Series against Boston, the Red Sox mustered just three hits during his eight innings. “I just can’t get too wrapped up in the bad things that happen in the outing beforehand,” Valdez said on Saturday. “Just like the last time I went through this, you acknowledge the bad things that happened and focus on what kind of adjustments you can make, just like I did last time.
