Atlanta Braves defeat Houston Astros to win 2021 World Series originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
Atlanta's championship drought is over.
The Atlanta Braves defeated the Houston Astros 7-0 in Game 6 of the World Series on Tuesday to capture their first championship - and the city's - since 1995.
For a team that won just 88 games during the regular season, lost its best player to injury in July and squandered an early but comfortable Game 5 lead, a long-awaited title-clinching victory came with far less adversity.
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A series that began with a home run by Jorge Soler essentially ended in the same manner. Soler crushed a 446-foot homer out of the stadium in the third inning to give the Braves a 3-0 lead that was never threatened.
It was the third home run of the series for Soler, who was acquired at the trade deadline in July on a day the Braves filled a void created when Ronald Acuna Jr. suffered a torn ACL and revamped their outfield by also adding Eddie Rosario and Adam Duvall.
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In the Braves' Game 4 win, it was Soler and Dansby Swanson who hit back-to-back home runs to put Atlanta in front, and that same duo struck again in Game 6.
Swanson -- a Georgia native -- increased the Braves' lead to 5-0 in the fifth with a two-run homer.
Freddie Freeman followed with an RBI double in the fifth and a solo home run in the seventh to make it 7-0.
Max Fried, who entered Game 6 having allowed a combined 11 earned runs over his previous two starts, shut down a high-powered Astros team playing in its third World Series in five years.
Fried threw six shutout innings, allowing four hits, walking none and striking out six. He escaped a two-on, no-out jam in the first unscathed, even after having his ankle stepped on by Michael Brantley while covering first base.
Nine outs from winning the World Series, the Braves turned to what has been a mostly untouchable bullpen throughout the postseason.
Tyler Matzek allowed one hit over two scoreless innings, striking out the side in the eighth. Will Smith closed it out in the ninth as the Braves blanked the Astros, who watched the World Series champion celebrate in their stadium for the second time in three seasons (Washington Nationals in 2019).
That set off a wild celebration on the field in Houston and back in Atlanta at Truist Park, where fans attended a watch party. In between the Braves' 1995 and 2021 championships, the city of Atlanta has lost the Thrashers to Winnipeg, seen the Hawks get no further than the Eastern Conference Finals and watched the Falcons surrender a 28-3 lead in the Super Bowl.
All of that, at least for one night, is forgotten with the Braves returning home with the World Series trophy. The drought is over.
