Crushed City: Astros World Series comeback bid falls short in Game 6

Another heartbreaking chapter has been added to Houston's checkered sports history: the Astros' 7-0 loss to the Atlanta Braves in the sixth and final game of the 2021 World Series.

The Astros failed to capitalize on their Game 5 comeback in Atlanta that occurred two nights before.

A second straight win would've forced a Game 7, but the Astros came home to a Minute Maid Park with the roof open to shirk under a clear Houston night sky and unwillingly watch another team claim the Fall Classic crown on their turf for the third time instead.

Rookie pitcher Luis Garcia collected three strikeouts but was knocked out after two innings following a Jorge Soler three-shot home run in the third that disappeared above Minute Maid Park's train tracks.

MLB.com reported that Soler, who came to the Braves via a trade with the Kansas City Royals over the summer, smashed a total of three go-ahead homers to secure the Willie Mays World Series MVP Award presented by Chevrolet.

The bullpen, which had impressed throughout the postseason and the Fall Classic, itself couldn't silence the deafening salvo of Braves' bats.

Atlanta shortstop Dansby Swanson chipped in a two-shot HR and first baseman Freddie Freeman an RBI double in the fifth.

Freeman's HR in the seventh sealed the game and the championship for the visitors.

The Astros' offense, meanwhile, was a shell of its usually potent self, hitting the ball six times with no runs to show for them, Click2Houston reported.

Astros manager Dusty Baker, 72, whose baseball career began with the Hank Aaron-led Braves, remains without a Fall Classic triumph as a manager.

The biggest unknown for the Astros as they head into a long winter is shortstop Carlos Correa, who has entered free agency after more than half a decade with the team that drafted him first in 2012.

Correa's likely last moment in an Astro uniform was a strikeout in the ninth.