LOS ANGELES -- For four-plus innings, the Dodgers found Justin Verlander to be unhittable. But when they finally did hit him, they hit him hard.
Joc Pederson's solo shot in the fifth inning broke up Verlander's no-hit bid and tied the game, and Corey Seager's two-run homer in the sixth gave the Dodgers a two-run lead in a 7-6, 11-inning loss to the Astros in Game 2 of the World Series on Wednesday at Dodger Stadium. Coming into this game, Verlander had allowed just one homer in 24 2/3 innings this postseason, but the difference-makers here were a wise selection by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and Seager's return from the back injury that sidelined him in the National League Championship Series presented by Camping World.
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Pederson didn't play in Game 1 of the Fall Classic presented by YouTube TV, and he was 5-for-26 in just 28 previous plate appearances this postseason. But Roberts liked him in the matchup against Verlander, opting to start Pederson over Andre Ethier because of Verlander's velocity.
"I think with Joc, it's more the velocity," Roberts said. "I think that this guy is obviously plus-plus velocity. I like Joc a little bit better with the velocity. And I think Joc is a better defender in left field, too."
Pederson struck out looking in his first at-bat, but he made Roberts appear prescient with one swing of the bat in the fifth. It was the second postseason homer of his career, and the other was also off a high-velocity, high-profile hurler in Max Scherzer. But Pederson's poke off Verlander came not on a fastball but on an 88-mph slider that hung over the middle of the plate in a 2-1 count. It just cleared the wall in right-center field, going a Statcast-calculated 370 feet.

Seager's shot was a byproduct of a terrific preceding plate appearance by Chris Taylor with two out. Taylor worked his way from a 2-2 count to a walk, and that brought Seager, who had two hits in his return from injury in Game 1, to the plate in a big spot. After falling in an 0-2 hole, Seager saw ball one, then connected on a 97.3-mph four-seamer, sending it out to left. Statcast™ had that one at 383 feet with a 102.3-mph exit velocity. The 23-year-old Seager became the youngest Dodger to homer in the Fall Classic since Pete Reiser in Game 4 in 1941.