Signs point to...
Everyone loves to see their home team win. For most people it's why you go to the game. (See also: Detroit, Tampa Bay, Miami.) And what's more exciting than a big win at home, maybe a walkoff, maybe a dominant pitching performance, in a big situation like, oh, say, a World Series?
Mmm, yeah, about that. Picture 305,072 people holding those golden World Series tickets, and not one of them getting to see a home victory? Feels unprecedented, doesn't it? (Because it was, maybe you've heard.) But it was the ideal World Series if you're a fan of bottoms of the 9th.
Ace In the Hole
It is the very rare team that makes it to any World Series without at least one ace pitcher. And there have been plenty of great Game-1 matchups over the years-- Clayton Kershaw/Chris Sale last year, Mike Mussina/Curt Schilling in 2001, Greg Maddux/Orel Hershiser in 1995; Bob Gibson/Denny McLain in 1968. But from the moment we knew our two combatants, you didn't just hear about Scherzer and Cole in Game 1. You also heard Strasburg and Verlander in Game 2. And Greinke and Corbin in Game 3. With Anibal Sanchez hanging around, even Game 4 came up. In a year of record strikeouts and conspiracy theories about the postseason baseballs, this thing had a chance to be the first World Series where neither team ever got a base hit. At least not in the first 6 or 7 innings.
Yeah, that would be why they play the games. Trea Turner sent the second pitch of the Series right back at Gerrit Cole, who was unable to get the glove down in time and watched it trickle behind second base for a leadoff single. That was Turner's fifth leadoff base hit in a postseason game, giving him half of the Nats/Expos franchise total. Although he got left at second, George Springer then led off the bottom half against Max Scherzer with a 7-pitch walk, the first time both leadoff batters reached in a World Series Game 1 since Ian Kinsler and Rafael Furcal in 2011. Jose Altuve promptly followed with a single, and Yuli Gurriel's double took the wind out of the Nationals' sails early.
However, leave it to the "original National", Ryan Zimmerman, whose MLB career exactly matches that of the Washington Nationals, having come to D.C. in 2005. In the 2nd he unleashed what was obviously his first World Series homer, but also the first by a Washington player since Fred Schulte on October 7, 1933. Schulte, however, was also stationed in left field for that previous WS game played by a D.C. team, and in the 10th inning he made a leaping effort on Mel Ott's long fly, but momentum carried him over what was only a 3-foot-high outfield fence, and the umpires awarded Ott what would become the series-winning home run.
For the casual fan who might not have followed the adventures of Juan Soto, Game 1 provided a great opportunity for the TV announcers to gush over him. Might as well give them something to gush about. Game-tying, leadoff home run in the 4th inning onto the train tracks in left field (the ball never did come down). You've no doubt seen the list of youngest players to homer in a World Series, on which Soto now follows Mickey Mantle, Miguel Cabrera, and Andruw Jones. The Nats are the first team in postseason history to have a player younger than 22 and a player older than 35 homer in the same game-- and thanks to Zim's dinger earlier, they've now done it twice! The first one kinda got lost in the hype; Soto was followed by Howie Kendrick's grand slam in the Division Series finale in Los Angeles.
So that's two homers off Gerrit Cole, but as broadcasters are fond of saying, at least they're solo shots. Of his 29 longballs in the regular season, 25 came with the bases empty, the highest percentage of any pitcher who gave up at least 20 total dingers. The Nats would instead find a different way to get to him, with two singles, a walk, a forceout, and finally a Juan Soto double to collect 3 runs in the 5th and tag Cole with the loss. Soto still hasn't turned 21, so he's now the third-youngest player with 3 RBIs in a World Series game, after the Andruw Jones 2-homer game, and a name you don't see often on these lists-- Joe Garagiola for the Cardinals in 1946. Soto would go on to single and steal a base in the 8th, becoming the first player with 3 hits, 3 RBIs, and a stolen base in a WS game since Moises Alou of the Marlins in 1997. Only two other cleanup hitters (we're talking any age now) have had a homer, a double, a single, and 3 RBIs in a Series game, and one of them watched Soto do it. That was Carlos Correa in 2017 Game 5 against the Dodgers; the other was for the Dodgers, Roy Campanella in 1955.
Remembering all that "ace" stuff that had been hyped before the series, the Astros did stick to their game plan of trying to get into the Nationals bullpen early. They drove Scherzer out of the game after just 5 innings that required 112 pitches (and easily over 2 hours). Max hadn't gotten a win on the minimum 5 IP since a meaningless season finale in 2016 when the Nats were just setting up the rotation for the playoffs. And George Springer did provide a little late, uh, spring in the Astros offense, homering off Tanner Rainey to start the 7th and then knocking in a run with a double off the screen that protects the Astros bullpen. The homer, of course, earned him lots of notes about being the first player to go deep in five straight World Series games over multiple seasons; Reggie Jackson and Lou Gehrig each did it in four straight. Springer also walked twice; along with his April 19 performance at Texas, he became the first leadoff batter in Astros history to have a 2-walk, 2-extra-base-hit game twice in the same season. He's also the first leadoff batter in team history-- in any game-- to have 2 XBH, 2 BB, 2 RBI, and score 2 runs in a loss, and the first for any team to do it in the postseason.
But while Springer got them back to 5-4, ultimately Sean Doolittle shut the door by not letting him score the tying run in the 8th, and then retiring three straight in the 9th. Doolittle also got a 4-out save in Game 1 of the League Championship Series against St Louis, and is the sixth pitcher to have multiple Game-1 4-out saves in the same year. Obviously that wasn't possible before 1969, but the others are Tug McGraw (1980), Goose Gossage (1981), Al Holland (1983), Rick Aguilera (1991), and Jeurys Familia (2015). And as mentioned, never getting that fifth run back stuck Cole with his first loss in exactly 5 months (May 22 vs White Sox); he joined Andy Pettitte (2005 NLCS 1) as the Astros' only pitchers to give up 8+ hits, 5+ runs, and take a loss in a postseason game. And the last pitcher for any team to give up 5+ runs and 2+ homers in Game 1 of a World Series? Why that's only the guy who pitches tomorrow-- Justin Verlander for the Tigers in 2012.
Texas Two-Step
So just as long as Verlander doesn't duplicate that 5-run, 2-homer performance from 2012 (he also did it in 2006, for what that's worth), the Astros have a good chance at jumping right back in this thing, yes? Uh... yes?
Don't blink. JV walked Trea Turner on four pitches, Adam Eaton singled, and Anthony Rendon doubled to center to make it 2-0 after only three batters. You can certainly argue that he's facing better competition in October, but in 34 regular-season starts Verlander gave up only 12 earned runs in the 1st inning, and multiple runs only twice. In five postseason starts it's 9 and 3. But of course, staked to this 2-0 lead, Stephen Strasburg comes out flat also. Jose Altuve double, Michael Brantley single, and Alex Bregman homer that would have given the Astros the lead had Altuve not gotten thrown out stealing third, the first CS of third in a World Series since Bret Boone of the Braves did it against the Yankees in 1999.
So now with the teams locked at 2-2, let's declare a mulligan for both pitchers and start over. Now we get the pitching we had expected, although you wouldn't exactly call it a "duel". It was more of an escape act, with Verlander allowing five more baserunners, and Strasburg six, despite no more runs scoring through the 6th. The Nationals actually had a hit in each of the first five innings; if that looks familiar, it's because they did the same thing in Game 1 on Tuesday. The only other teams to do that in back-to-back World Series games are the 1932 Cubs and 1923 Yankees.
Finally as both Verlander and Strasburg blow through 100 pitches, something has to give. But even Kurt Suzuki probably didn't think it would be Kurt Suzuki. In fact, he described the "floating" feeling he got after hitting a leadoff homer in the 7th that also gave the Nationals a 3-2 lead, the Nationals' first go-ahead homer in the 7th or later at Minute Maid Park since Austin Kearns took Doug Brocail deep on May 6, 2008. (All such things are obviously a first in Nats World Series history, which is why you won't see a lot of those type of notes.) After a walk to Victor Robles, it's time to get Verlander out of there after 107 pitches and in danger of going down 0-2 in the series, especially if they give up any more runs.
Mmm, yeah, about that. Ryan Pressly did manage to get two outs. Unfortunately the rules say you need three. So two more walks and three straight singles served to blow the doors off of this one before Alex Bregman could say "ground ball". He bobbled one to lose whatever small chance he would have had aganist Howie Kendrick, then knocked down a Ryan Zimmerman roller but compounded his own problem by throwing the ball away for another run. By the time Josh James finally got that third out, the Nationals had recorded the first 6-run inning in a World Series since the Royals had one in 2014, and the first by a visiting team in the 7th or later since the Marlins did it in Cleveland in 1997. It was the Nationals' 12th game this year with a 6-run inning, trailing only the Yankees (13).
James was sent back out for the 8th and apparently he didn't get the memo about the third out either. Oh, he did strike out three batters, but Victor Robles ended up on first after a passed ball, and then Adam Eaton put the Nats in double digits with a dinger. Eaton earned a "random combo alert" by having a sac bunt earlier in the game; only four players have had a sac bunt, a homer, scored 2 runs, and driven in 2 runs in a World Series game. The others are Tom Tresh (1962) and Hector Lopez (1961) of the Yankees and the Pirates' Fred Clarke in 1909. Michael Taylor's solo shot in the 9th would be the final nail in a 12-3 drubbing, the first time any Washington team has won a postseason game by more than 4 runs. The Nats hadn't scored 12 runs in Houston since tagging Roy Oswalt (and a bunch of other peopple) on May 31, 2010. The Nats also became the first team in World Series history to homer in the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings of the same game. Honorable mention to Martin Maldonado, who came in as a defensive replacement and homered in the 9th for that final Astros run. Only three other players have hit a World Series homer in the 9th inning when trailing by 10 or more: Bill Bathe of the Giants in 1989, and the others were in the same game. Hank Bauer and Mickey Mantle both did it in Game 2 of the 1958 classic in Milwaukee after starting the inning down 13-2.
How Do You Measure 86 Years
As the saying goes, if only the Nationals could have saved some of those runs. Or if their special "runners in scoring position" bats didn't get lost on the flight from Houston to Washington. Or maybe they just got caught up in the pomp and circumstance of it all.
D.C. is no stranger to big events. There's an inauguration every 4 years, marathons and parades and rallies and protests abound, the Independence Day celebrations on the Mall draw hundreds of thousands each year (and force the Nationals to play one of the two 11 am starts in MLB, the other being Boston's Patriots' Day game). But as you've probably heard, it had been eighty-six years since a World Series came to town, and let's just say the tickets for this one netted more than 4 bucks.
Unfortunately the only "run"s to be found in Washington were those by Congress for re-election next year. Zack Greinke and Anibal Sanchez continued our tradition of sending really good pitchers out to the mound, and George Springer and Anthony Rendon continued our tradition of breaking up the no-hitters in the 1st inning. The Astros put up single runs in the 2nd and 3rd thanks to doubles by Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve, and the Nats wasted the first of many threats when Victor Robles grounded into a double play. Asdrubal Cabrera struck out to leave bases loaded in the 3rd. Robles did make it 2-1 with a 1-out triple in the 4th, but the next two batters couldn't bring him in for the tie. That was, however, the first triple in Washington's World Series history among their four teams that have played in one. Combined with Adam Eaton's three-bagger in the NLCS, it doubled the franchise's postseason total of triples to four.
However, Altuve would double and score again in the 5th as he and Springer continue to chase each other not just on the Astros' postseason home-run list, but the extra-base-hit one as well. Altuve also had a multi-double game in Nationals Park on June 17, 2014; his two, plus Miguel Tejada in a suspended game on May 5, 2009, are the only ones they've ever had there. The Nationals, possibly copying Houston's approach against Scherzer and Strasburg, ran up Greinke's pitch count (and the length of the game, yawn) to finally bounce him in the 5th, one out shy of even qualifying for the win. For as much as we hate the 5-inning rule, tell any Astros fan that they'd throw Cole, Verlander, and Greinke in the first three games of the World Series, and none of them would get a win?... But as it turns out, Ryan Zimmerman would strike out to strand two more batters in that inning and eight for the game already.
Robinson Chirinos would promptly homer in the 6th; combined with Martin Maldonado in Game 1, the Astros joined the 1962 Giants (Ed Bailey & Tom Haller) as the only World Series teams to have multiple catchers go yard. That also ran Anibal Sanchez out of the game after 10 hits allowed; the only other pitcher in Nats/Expos postseason history to allow 10 knocks was Steve Rogers in the 1981 Division Series, and he ended up with a 3-1 win. The Nats stranded two more against Will Harris in the 6th, although Robles did steal a base on a botched hit-and-run. That gave him the fun distinction of being the first player with a triple and a steal in a World Series game since Devon White of the Marlins did it exactly 22 years earlier. Since 2005, only one other Nationals batter had done those two and grounded into a double play, Danny Espinosa on June 19, 2015.
Amazingly, however, in the Series that was supposed to be all about dominant starters and shaky bullpens, the last three innings passed with only three harmless baserunners, two of them on infield singles, as the Astros recorded their first win in Washington since they were back in the National League (April 19, 2012). Since we've spent all night harkening back 31,429 days to the previous World Series game in Washington, it's fitting that the 4-1 final was only the second WS game in D.C. where the home team scored only 1 run, the other being a 2-1, 11-inning loss to the Giants in 1933. The Nats also picked a fine time to score 1 run and leave 12+ runners on base for the first time all season; combined with Houston's 10 LOBs it was two shy of the 9-inning World Series record for such a thing. That 12th strand-ee was not secured, however, until Juan Soto got rung up for the final out of the game. And if there's anything you heard more on Friday than "first World Series game since 1933", it's that Friday was Soto's 21st birthday. Hopefully someone bought him a drink after this one. He joined Ryan Zimmerman (September 28, 2007) as the only Nationals batter with a 3-strikeout game on his birthday, and is the second batter in World Series history to "celebrate" with a game-ending strikeout. Doc Crandall of the 1912 Giants did it in Game 1 against Boston's Smoky Joe Wood.
D.C. Gridlock
Game 4 was widely billed as the proverbial "bullpen game", although we didn't really like that title for a game where Patrick Corbin is starting. True, he did throw 21 pitches in Game 1 when the Astros drove away Max Scherzer after 5 innings, but that was his normal "throw day" anyway. And no, Jose Urquidy isn't exactly a household name, but he's been decent ever since making his MLB debut in July, getting through 5+ innings in four of his seven starts. So we're not sure why everyone was expecting this game to get cobbled together by seven people getting 4 outs each.
At the outset, though, it did look like the Nationals might end up in that situation. They had "bullpen activity" in the 1st inning when Corbin gave up four straight singles and 2 runs, only escaping the inning when Anthony Rendon was able to step on third to start a double play. The Astros became just the third road team this century to have 4 hits in the 1st inning of a World Series game, joining the 2016 Cubs and 2014 Giants (both of whom won the title, might we add), and for all the talk about them scoring first, the Astros entered this game 28-2 on the year when they put up multiple runs in the 1st inning. Those two losses... were Games 1 and 2 of this very same World Series.
The Nationals, of course, would again be stymied with runners on base, though they only had two against Urquidy. He did give up a harmless single to Anthony Rendon in the 1st, however, meaning that in this overhyped series with All The Pitching Aces, Games 1 through 4 all saw both teams get a hit in the 1st inning. Remember all those no-hitter threats from Sanchez and Scherzer and Verlander just a couple weeks ago? Instead 2019 would be just the second World Series where there was a hit in each of the first eight 1st innings (so, Games 1 through 4). The other was 2004 between the Red Sox and Cardinals, and that one didn't have a Game 5.
Meanwhile, Corbin was in trouble again in the 4th when Carlos Correa drew a walk and then Robinson Chirinos homered for the second game in a row. Other than George Springer-- whose 5-game streak was snapped on Wednesday-- he's the only Astros batter ever to homer in back-to-back WS games. He's also the first Houstonian ever to homer in B2B games at Nationals Park; Carlos Lee did it in their final series at RFK, July 16-17, 2007. And we mentioned Martin Maldonado's homer in Game 1, but don't forget Kurt Suzuki also had one for the Nats to start that 6-run rally in Game 2. That made 2019 just the second World Series with four dingers hit by catchers; in 1972 Oakland's Gene Tenace had that many just by himself (and, oh yeah, Johnny Bench chipped in one also). Chirinos would also double (and get thrown out at the plate) in the 9th, the first catcher to homer and double in the same WS game since Gary Carter of the Mets did it at Fenway in 1986.
The vaunted Nationals offense, however, still couldn't find those bats, going 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position, and watching their only run of the game come on a bases-loaded groundout by Juan Soto. And that was after Urquidy had done his required 5 innings; he would join Justin Verlander and Charlie Morton as the only Astros starters to allow 0 runs, 2 hits, and get a win in a postseason game. No Houston pitcher had ever posted that line in Washington (and their last to do it in Montréal was Mike Scott in 1987).
But of course the play of the game comes immediately after Corbin leaves the game as well. Kyle Tucker, batting in the pitcher's spot, draws a 5-pitch walk from new mound-occupier Tanner Rainey. Then George Springer walks. Then Fernando Rodney gives up a single to Michael Brantley. And two pitches later, the always-fired-up Alex Bregman shoots one of Rodney's flaming arrows just inside the left-field foul pole for the second grand slam in Astros postseason history. The other was by Lance Berkman off Kyle Farnsworth, by then with Atlanta, in the 2005 Division Series. Thanks to one of those 1st-inning singles off Corbin, he also joined Morgan Ensberg (2005 NLDS) and Carlos Beltran (2004 NLDS) as the only Astros batters with 5 RBI in a postseason game. No player had collected 3 hits and 5 RBI in a World Series game since Albert Pujols' 3-homer game in 2011. And in his long career of shooting arrows, Rodney had given up only one other slam, to Marco Scutaro (then of the Red Sox) on July 28, 2010.
A quivering Rodney (see what we did there?) would promptly issue three more walks to load the bases and run the risk of the first multi-slam game by a team in postseason history. As it was, we've already got the second half-inning in World Series history where any team issued five walks; the Cardinals gifted them to the Yankees in Game 4 of the 1926 affair. Rodney also became the first Nats pitcher in over 8 years to give up three walks and a homer while getting only 1 out; Henry Rodriguez did that against the Marlins on July 26, 2011, in what was clearly not Game 4 of the World Series. (In fact, no pitcher for any team had ever posted that line in a WS game.) However, Kyle Tucker would strike out to end the inning as the Astros batted around. Recall that Tucker led off the frame with a pinch-hit walk. And thus he was also the third player in postseason history to pull off one of our favorite tricks, batting again with no official position. He can't still be a pinch hitter because he's not replacing himself. Yet he also hasn't assumed a position in the field because the inning hasn't ended. The only others to pull this off (note the -9 theme) were Don Demeter of the Dodgers in 1959 Game 6 and George not-the-actor Burns of the Philadelphia A's in 1929 Game 4. The only other Astros batter to do it this year was Myles Straw back on August 25.
The 8-1 final ranked as both the third-largest win in Astros postseason history and the third-largest loss in Nationals postseason history. The last time the Astros topped Washington by 7+ runs was when Bud Norris "outdueled" Edwin Jackson to an 11-4 count on April 19, 2012. And with our series now gridlocked (appropriate for Washington) at 2 games each, that guaranteed a Game 6 on Tuesday and made 2019 the longest start-to-finish baseball season in major-league history. The 2014 campaign, which also began with two international games (in Sydney), lasted nearly 222 days, a mark which would be broken shortly after Game 5 ended on Sunday. (We do not have exact times for every season, but trust us that none of the others before this chart even approached 220 days.)
We can't say for certain, but it's a good bet that the 2019 squad was also the first Washington team to take a plane to their World Series games. The others were probably only slightly removed from the third boxcar and an 8-by-12 four-bit room. Intermission!
Landslide
Even if you don't follow politics closely, you probably recognize the name Sheila Jackson Lee. She's been "The Representative From Houston" since well before Houston blew up into a megaplex that now comprises parts of 10 Congressional districts. Crawford Street was in her district long before it had a ballpark on it. So she knows a thing or thirteen about winning consecutive trips to Washington. We have no idea if she gave the Astros any pointers, but darned if they didn't pile on again.
Sunday's game was, of course, the long-awaited (if by "long" you mean "since Game 1") rematch of Game 1 between Gerrit Cole and Max Scherzer... until it wasn't. Scherzer awoke to neck and back spasms that kept him from even getting out of bed at first, and aren't the Nats suddenly lucky that Game 4 wasn't a true "bullpen game" after all. They still had Joe Ross in reserve; while he's technically come out of the bullpen for most of the second half, all 35 of his appearances in the previous three seasons were starts, with an average of about 5½ innings each. So off he goes to try and salvage one home game for the Nats. And he didn't pitch all that badly. In the regular season we wouldn't have even raised an eyebrow at his line. But when you combine the Nationals' cold bats of the last couple games, with a trying-to-bounce-back-from-Game-1 Gerrit Cole, 4 runs and 2 homers was just destined to be insurmountable.
It was somewhat amusing that in this series of aces, Joe Ross was the first pitcher to post a hit-free 1st inning (remember both teams had hits in each of the first four games?). He also made the Nationals the first team since the 1980 Phillies to have a different starting pitcher in each of the first five games of a World Series, something that's now a no-brainer with the format and all the travel days. The first of those homers would come from Yordan Alvarez in the 2nd, he of the .204/.278/.265 slash line in the postseason and his last homer on September 21. Alvarez just turned 22 in June, and combined with Juan Soto's dinger in Game 1 (when, as you might have heard, he was still only 20), it's only the second World Series in history where two players younger than 23 each homered. The other time it happened was for the same team-- Joe Medwick and Bill DeLancey of the 1934 Cardinals-- and in different games. (Wait for it.)
Once again the Nationals would get two hits in the 2nd but find Victor Robles grounding into a double play to end any hope. Alvarez singled again in the 4th, after which Carlos Correa uncorked his 11th career postseason homer (he's behind Springer and Altuve on that list that keeps flip-flopping), another 2-run shot that would give the Astros more than they needed in this one. Houston also hit a pair of multi-run homers in Game 4 (Chirinos and then Bregman's slam), becoming the first team in World Series history to do that in back-to-back games with both of them on the road. Springer would add yet another 2-run bomb in the 9th, and remember those 1980 Phillies who were the last to begin with five different starters? They were also the last to allow three multi-run homers in a single game, when Amos Otis and Willie Aikens hit them for the Royals in Game 4 that year.
The aformentioned Juan Soto did connect for the first home run of his 22nd year, basically the only blemish in 7 innings of Cole. Since the questionable outing in Game 1 was at home, Cole did extend a streak of nine straight road starts where he threw at least 5 innings and gave up no more than 1 run. The only other pitcher in Astros history to pull that off was Roger Clemens across the 2004-05 seasons. And Soto's other homer of the series, of course, was also off Gerrit Cole in that Game 1 victory; Joey Gallo of the Rangers was the only other player to take Cole deep twice this season.
Alvarez, who also singled and got erased on a double play in the 7th, was the youngest Astros batter with 3 hits including a homer, batting 6th or lower in the order, since Richard Hidalgo did that in Pittsburgh on September 17, 1997. Tack on 2 runs scored, and he's just the second Houston hitter, of any age, to have that line in Washington; Morgan Ensberg did it in their second-ever game at RFK, July 22, 2005. Springer, who doubled prior to his 9th-inning homer, broke a tie with Lou Brock for the most extra-base hits in World Series history by a leadoff hitter (he has 12). He also walked twice, matching his Game-1 line of 2 hits, 2 walks, 2 runs scored, and 2 RBIs. In the first 114 fall classics, know how many folks did that? One-- Earle Combs of the 1932 Yankees. And now Springer did it twice in a week.
And look at those scores (or, if you're a Nats fan, maybe don't). 4-1, 8-1, 7-1. No team in World Series history had scored 0 or 1 in three straight games with all of them at home, and the Nationals hadn't done it against the same opponent since the Diamondbacks-- with Micah Owings, Brandon Webb, and both once- and future-National Livan Hernandez-- visited in April 2007. The Astros had never won three straight games in Washington, by any score, and regardless of whether they were in the same series or not. And going into Game 5, we heard the fun tidbit on the radio broadcast that the Nats were trying to avoid their first 3-game losing streak since July 25, 26, and 27. Check your October calendar. Those three straight losses to the Astros? 25, 26, and 27.
Just Hold On, We're Going Home
The Astros always knew they'd be heading back to Houston following their weekend fling in D.C.; after all, that's where their home is. Their hopes of taking a trophy with them were dashed after Game 2, and at that point, the Nationals probably weren't expecting to make another trip to back to Houston either. But here we are back at Minute Maid Park, with literally the only difference being that it's now Tuesday instead of Wednesday. Oh yeah, and the series just went from 0-2 to 3-2. So let's see what happens when, for the first time this series, we do get our long-awaited rematch of aces. Both Strasburg and Verlander started out shaky in Game 2, giving up 2 runs each in the 1st. They settled down but both teams worked each other's pitch count and drove the starters out of the game by the 7th inning. Of course on the way out, Verlander allowed that infamous leadoff home run to Kurt Suzuki that started the Nationals' 6-run rally. So stop us if you've heard this one. Leadoff single by Trea Turner, Adam Eaton with a sac bunt that blew up baseball Twitter with "why are they bunting in the 1st inning?, are they trying to only score 1 run?". To be fair, that's all they scored in any of the prior three games, so might as well get it now.
George Springer doubles on Strasburg's first pitch, the second pitch bounces him to third, Jose Altuve drives him in, and it certainly seems that our starters are jet-lagged again. Alex Bregman deposits one in the Crawford Boxes, and Yuli Gurriel comes very close to doing likewise with the very next pitch. The Nationals get two runners in both the 3rd and 4th but can't score either of them. (Yeah, this part sounds familiar too.) Finally in the 5th the Nats figure out the issue-- rather than stop at various bases and get stranded there, just homer a couple times and flip this thing right back in your favor. Eaton, who was not bunting this time, ties us up at 2-2 and then Juan Soto gives the Nats the eventual game-winner, although it's way too early to know that yet. Since we must have a Juan Soto "age" note every time he does something, this one is among the more impressive ones: He became the youngest player to hit a third World Series home run by over 2 years, breaking the mark of Charlie Keller who hit his on October 8, 1939, a few weeks after turning 23. The 5th also marked the first time the Nationals had hit multiple homers in an inning at Minute Maid Park since May 31, 2010, by Carlos Maldonado and Ryan Zimmerman.
Then we get to The Play. With the Nats still clinging to a 3-2 lead (and life in the series), and having now knocked Verlander out of the game, Trea Turner hits a squibber back to pitcher Brad Peacock, whose throw is a bit offline and causes Yuli Gurriel to reach back for the catch-- in the process making contact with Turner who was running past him and knocking the ball free. Plate umpire Sam Holbrook-- he of the "Outfield Fly" controversy in 2012-- calls Turner out for interference and sends Yan Gomes, who had made it all the way around to third, back to first where he started. Davey Martinez throws a fit, and a 5-minute conversation ensues with the replay center in New York, which-- at least according to The Official Postgame Explanation-- turns out to not be an actual review, but a discussion of whether the play was even reviewable. Answer: No. We still think Martinez may have had a case for protesting the game, not over the actual interference call, but over the sending of Gomes back to first, given that he was forced and had almost certainly reached second safely before the interference occurred. (We actually saw a similar protest in a double-A game in 2015.) Martinez, meanwhile, would become the first person ejected from a World Series game (not counting Sunday's flasher incident) since Bobby Cox in 1996. In classic Bobby Cox fashion, he got run not because of a bad call at second base, but for cussing out the home-plate umpire on his way off the field after the first argument.
As it turns out, the replay and/or protest wouldn't have mattered much, and plus Martinez got to watch Anthony Rendon's subsequent homer from a nice comfortable couch somewhere. The out by Turner just meant the difference between 5-2 and 6-2, and either way it was the first time the Nationals had hit 3 homers at MMP since July 11, 2009, off reliever Felipe Paulino. And Rendon would finish off the festivities with a 2-run, 9th-inning double against Chris Devenski to join Arizona's Danny Bautista (2001 Game 6) as the only players in World Series history with 3 hits and 5 RBIs in a potential elimination game. He also became just the second Nats player ever with a 5-RBI game in Houston (forget the 3 hits), along with Jose Vidro on April 8, 2006.
And we mentioned Verlander getting knocked out of the game in the 6th, but unlike Game 2, we didn't say the same about Strasburg. Because after those two 1st-inning runs-- and a postgame admission that he may have been tipping pitches-- Strasburg worked his way through seven more frames and several more jams, finally acknowledging to "manager" Chip Hale in the 9th that he knew he was out of gas. There still hasn't been a World Series complete game since Johnny Cueto in 2015, but Stras did become the first to go at least 8 IP and get a win, without finishing the game, since Derek Holland of the Rangers in 2011. He's also the first Nationals pitcher NOT named Scherzer to throw 8+ innings and strike out 7+ in an American League park; the only two ever to do it for the Expos were Pedro Martinez and Jeff Juden in the first year of interleague play, 1997.
Rollin' Down 95
Because Game 7. Is there a better way to settle a championship than one game for all the Tostitoes? (This is our personal theory on why the Super Bowl is such a huge event every year.) Max Scherzer woke up ready to go this time, facing Zack Greinke in a game that felt a lot more like a matchup of mortals, as opposed to the showdowns we expected out of the gate last week. After allowing a solo homer to Yuli Gurriel, Scherzer seemed to be in a constant jam as Houston had multiple baserunners in four of the first five innings. However, he managed to escape all except the last one despite a lot of contact. What better way to wrap up the Year Of The Strikeout than by having Greinke and Scherzer fail to fan anyone until Anthony Rendon whiffed to end the top of the 4th? The last World Series game that went 3 full innings without a strikeout by either team was in 1996 when Greg Maddux matched up with the Yankees' Jimmy Key in Game 2.
By the time Carlos Correa drove in a second run in the 5th, Baseball Twitter was very much doubting whether Scherzer should still be in the game, and they got their answer when he failed to appear for the 6th after 103 pitches. He had become the first pitcher to allow 11 baserunners in a World Series Game 7 since Pete Vuckovich of the Brewers in 1982, and would have been on the hook for the loss as well. However, in one of those questionable moves that is only magnified and over-scrutinized by the stage of Game 7, A.J. Hinch pulled Zack Greinke in the top of the 7th after he allowed a solo homer to Anthony Rendon. After 6 we were already preparing the "complete game" notes based on his only being at 67 pitches. Instead, the usually-reliable Will Harris trots in from the bullpen, and there's a reason we say "usually". Howie Kendrick launched a 2-run, lead-flipping, and ultimately championship-winning homer, just the second such homer ever hit in the 7th or later of a winner-take-all postseason game. Pittsburgh's Hal Smith took Jim Coates of the Yankees deep in 1960; obviously the Pirates then gave that lead back before winning on Bill Mazeroski's walkoff. Rendon, meanwhile, had also homered in Game 6 and became the fifth player ever to go yard in 6 and 7 of the same World Series, joining Mickey Mantle (twice), Roberto Clemente, onlooker George Springer, and "one of these things is not like the other" Allen Craig.
Harris, who had been handed a 2-1 lead, was the first pitcher to blow a save in a winner-take-all World Series game at home since Roger Moret of the Red Sox in 1975. When the Astros couldn't get off that hook, he also became the first to record 0 outs while getting a blown save and a loss in any postseason game since Donne Wall of the Padres in 1998.
In a "normal" rotation, Patrick Corbin would have started in Game 3 and again in 7, but given the Scherzer situation, he ended up being deployed out of the bullpen and became the first pitcher ever to make 3 starts and 5 relief appearances in the same postseason. (Obviously this wasn't really possible until we went to three rounds in 1995, but "lies, damn lies, and statistics", right?) Corbin promply shut down any attempt at an Astros comeback by holding them to just 2 singles in 3 innings, and retiring one of those on a double play. The last pitcher to throw 3+ scoreless in relief and get a win in a World Series clincher was Larry Sherry of the Dodgers in 1959-- and three of the six who've ever done it have a Washington connection. Remember that "last World Series game in Washington" in 1933 where Mel Ott's homer carried Fred Schulte over the fence for the win? Dolf Luque of the Giants got the win in that game while pitching 3+ scoreless innings. And it also happened in 1924 when Walter Johnson pitched the final 4 innings in relief and Earl McNeely's walkoff double secured Washington's only World Series title.
Sorry, we mean Washington's only other World Series title.
This might take some getting used to.
The vast majority of factoids in this post, and all our posts throughout the year (feel free to peruse those archives on the right, this happens every Sunday night during the regular season), come from the invaluable Baseball Reference Play Index which can be yours too for as little as $3 a month. Much thanks and love to them, Retrosheet, SABR, Stats LLC, and other Twitter "stat mavens" who inspire or enhance ideas. See you next year (although there might be a rogue post or two before then).
No comments:
Post a Comment