It has been an unconventional road to Game 7 of the World Series for Stephen Strasburg and the Washington Nationals.
Seizing the October spotlight he missed out on as a youngster, Strasburg on Tuesday night pitched a gem into the ninth inning as the Nationals beat the Houston Astros 7-2 to tie this Fall Classic at 3-3.
Juan Soto ran all the way to first base with his bat following a go-ahead home run, the same way Houston slugger Alex Bregman did earlier.
Photo: AFP
Yep, these Nationals have matched the Astros pitch for pitch, hit for hit — even home run celebration for home run celebration.
Yesterday evening’s winner-take-all Game 7 was to decide the only World Series in which the visiting team won the first six.
“It’s weird, really. You can’t explain it,” Washington manager Dave Martinez said.
Adam Eaton and Soto hit solo homers off Justin Verlander in the fifth to help the Nationals rally. Anthony Rendon also went deep and drove in five runs.
Scherzer was warming up in the seventh before Rendon’s homer, then sat down as Martinez became the first manager tossed from a World Series game since Atlanta’s Bobby Cox in 1996.
Fired up after a disputed call at first base went against them in the seventh, the Nationals padded their lead moments later when Rendon homered off Will Harris.
Martinez, still enraged at umpires, was ejected in the seventh-inning stretch, screaming as a pair of his coaches held him back while the crowd sang along to Deep in the Heart of Texas.
Rendon added a two-run double off Chris Devenski in the ninth to just about seal the win after Strasburg gutted through without his best fastball to throw five-hit ball for 8-1/3 innings.
Washington pitching coach Paul Menhart told Strasburg after the first inning that he was tipping-off pitches.
Strasburg allowed only three more hits.
“Started shaking my glove, so they didn’t know what I was throwing,” Strasburg said. “It’s something that has burned me in the past, and it burned me there in the first.”
Visiting teams have won three straight Game 7s in the World Series since the Cardinals defeated Texas at home in 2011.
“I don’t think there’s a person in the building that would have assumed that all road teams were going to win,” Houston manager A.J. Hinch said. “We’ve just got to make sure that last one is not the same.”
Outscored 19-3 at Nationals Park while going one for 21 with runners in scoring position, the Nationals got the strong outing they needed from Strasburg, who allowed his only runs in the first inning, struck out seven and walked two while throwing 104 pitches.
“It was a mental grind out there, especially after the first,” Strasburg said. “Just got to keep fighting.”
He improved to 5-0 with a 1.98 ERA in six post-season starts this month, despite failing to get a swing and miss in the first two innings for the first time this year. Eight of nine swings and misses overall were on breaking balls. Strasburg escaped a two-on, two-out jam in the fourth by striking out Carlos Correa.
After George Springer’s one-out double put runners at second and third in the fifth, Jose Altuve struck out on curve in the dirt and Michael Brantley hit a hard grounder to second.
“Stras is doing Stras things out there,” Rendon said.
“It’s been amazing,” he added.
Sean Doolittle got the final two outs as the Nationals bullpen headed into Game 7 relatively rested. He gave up a two-out double to Correa before retiring Robinson Chirinos on a pop-up.
Verlander dropped to 0-6 with a 5.68 ERA in seven World Series starts, a blemish on his otherwise sterling career.
“I didn’t really have great feel for the off-speed stuff,” Verlander said. “The last inning just a poorly executed slider and then really just kind of a fastball up and in.”
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