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HOUSTON -- Cody Bellinger ripped an RBI double in the ninth inning to put the Los Angeles Dodgers ahead, and the Dodgers squared the World Series with a 6-2 win over the Houston Astros in Game 4 on Saturday night at Minute Maid Park. The series is tied 2-2.
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Bellinger, 0-for-4 with four strikeouts in Game 3, produced a pair of doubles in his final two plate appearances, the latter coming against Astros closer Ken Giles (0-2) and scoring Corey Seager, who opened the ninth with a single to right field. That gave the Dodgers a 2-1 lead.
The Dodgers ensured a return trip to Chavez Ravine for Game 6 when Joc Pederson belted a three-run home run off Joe Musgrove later in the ninth to complete the five-run rally.
Left-hander Tony Watson (1-0) earned the win in relief with a scoreless eighth inning.
Astros right-hander Charlie Morton and his mound counterpart, Dodgers lefty Alex Wood, engaged in a riveting pitcher's duel. Wood carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning and retired the first two batters of that frame before falling behind 3-1 to center fielder George Springer.
Springer followed by drilling a knuckle curveball into the Crawford Boxes in left field, turning the Astros' lone hit into a 1-0 lead. Morton, who survived a harrowing fifth inning thanks to a fabulous defensive play from third baseman Alex Bregman, returned for the sixth with a lead.
It was short-lived. Morton allowed a two-out double to Bellinger before being lifted in favor of right-hander Will Harris, who then allowed an RBI single to second baseman Logan Forsythe. Morton surrendered one run on three hits with seven strikeouts over 6 1/3 strong innings.
Morton surrendered a leadoff single to Chris Taylor in the first inning yet faced the minimum that frame thanks to catcher Brian McCann, who erased Taylor at second base as he attempted a delayed steal on a ball in the dirt.
In the second, Morton found an otherworldly groove.
Morton needed just nine pitches to retire the side in order in the second and, by the close of the third, had faced the minimum on just 33 pitches.
By the middle of the fifth inning Morton had seven strikeouts and only 50 pitches on his ledger, yet Wood was matching his zeroes.
With just one start this postseason under his belt, Wood appeared a likely candidate for an abbreviated start. However, he ably kept the ball down in the strike zone, induced six groundouts by the close of the fifth, and worked around walks in the second and third innings.
NOTES: Astros 1B Yuli Gurriel has been suspended without pay for the first five games of the 2018 season by Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred for mocking Dodgers RHP Yu Darvish with a racially insensitive gesture in the second inning of Game 3 on Friday night. Gurriel, a Cuban native, will undergo offseason sensitivity training for his inflammatory actions demeaning Darvish, who is Japanese. The Astros will donate Gurriel's lost salary to charity. ... Dodgers RHP Kenta Maeda, perhaps their most versatile bullpen arm, was unavailable after pitching in Games 2 and 3. Maeda (2-0, 0.00 ERA over seven appearances this postseason) has worked in consecutive games three times this postseason. ... Dodgers RF Yasiel Puig and SS Corey Seager were named Rawlings Gold Glove Award finalists at their respective positions.
