Even after a controversial call the Washington Nationals where able to pick up a 7-2 win over the Houston Astros in a must win Game 6 for them. Of course with the win the Nationals force what a lot of people think is the best thing in sports a winner take all Game 7 tonight.
The Nationals took a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the 1st. Trea Turner led off the game with an infield single and was moved up to 2nd base on an Adam Eaton sacrifice bunt. Anthony Rendon single to centerfield to drive to drive Turner home and give the Astros an early lead.
The Astros came right back in the bottom of the 1st inning and put up 2 runs of their own.
George Springer started the inning with a double and moved up to 3rd on a Steven Strasburg wild pitch. Jose Altuve drove him home with sacrifice fly to leftfield. After a strikeout for the second out of the inning Alex Bregman homered to leftfield to give the Astros a 2-0 lead.
At the time no one knew that these would be the only 2 runs that the Astros would score in the game as Strasburg held them in check. Justin Verlander was able to keep the Nationals bats silent until the top of the 5th.
With one out Eaton homered down the rightfield line to tie the game at 2-2. Verlender recorded a second out before Juan Soto touched him for another solo home run to rightfield giving the Astros a 3-2 lead.
Brad Peacock entered the game for the Astros and worked a 1,2,3 6th inning. Peacock started the 7th inning and gave up a single to Yan Gomes. Turner then hit a soft ground ball back to the mound, but the throw carried Houston’s 1st baseman Yuli Gurriel into the baseline and while it didn’t appear that Turner had ventured out of his running lane he was called out for batter interference and Gomes was sent back to 1st base. There was long delay as the play was reviewed; so the Astros made a pitching change as Will Harris came in from the bullpen. Harris got the first batter he faced out, but Rendon hit his a home run to leftfield to give the Nationals a 5-2 lead.
Chris Devenski came out of the bullpen to start the 9th inning for the Astros and quickly got two outs. Turner doubled and then Eaton was hit by a pitch. Rendon was up next and sure enough he came through and drove Turner and Eaton in with a double to rightfield. That made it 7-2 heading into the bottom of the 9th.
Strasburg actually came out to start the bottom of the 9th for the Nationals, but after getting the first batter out on a line drive back to him he was removed from the game for Sean Doolittle. After getting the first batter he faced on a line out to leftfield. Carlos Correa doubled to keep any hope Astros fans had alive, but they didn’t last long. Doolittle got Robinson Chrinos to pop out to 2nd base for the final out of the game.
While Rendon was clearly Washington’s hero at the plate going 3 for 4 with a double a home run and 5 RBI’s. Strasburg was clearly a huge factor on the mound. He pitched 8 1/3rd innings giving up 2 runs on 5 hits while walking 2 and striking out 7. Strasburg threw 104 pitches and improved his record to 2-0 in this World Series.
Verlander was solid for the Astros in his start. He pitched 5 innings, but it took him 93 pitches to get through those 5 innings. He gave up 3 runs on 5 hits while walking 3 and striking out 3. When Verlander exited the game the Astros where only down one run at 3-2. Ryan Pressly was the only Houston reliever who didn’t give up a run. Peacock gave up a run in his 1 1/3rd inning, Harris gave up a run in his 2/3rds of an inning and Devenski gave up 2 runs in his inning of work.
So we’ve got Game 7 tonight in Houston. Before this series many people might’ve thought that Houston have home field advantage was a good thing, but for the first time in any playoff series the road team has won every game. Now when I said any series it includes all the sports that play seven game series. It’s an unbelievable to think about how many times you’ve heard an announcer say that a team is playing for a win to help secure home field advantage only to have this happen. Can the Astros break this odd road team winning streak tonight? and capture the World Series title or do the Nationals have one more road win stored up for tonight’s game?
You’d have to guess that there won’t be any major changes in either teams batting order; so the only real difference to look at is who’s starting on the mound.
Max Scherzer gets the start for the Nationals tonight. Scherzer was scratched from his start in Game 4 with a stiff neck. Scherzer has pitched in 5 post season games starting 4 of them. He’s thrown 25 innings and is 3-0 with a 2.16 ERA. Scherzer got the win in Game 1 of this series throwing 5 innings giving up 2 runs on 5 hits while striking out 7 and walking 3.
The Astros will turn to Zack Greinke to start Game 7 for them. Greinke got a no-decision in his only World Series start. He lasted just 4 2/3rd innings. He gave up 1 run on 7 hits while walking 3 and striking out 6. Greinke is 0-2 in his 4 post season starts and has an ERA of 5.30 over a span of 18 2/3rd innings. Greinke has struck out 22 hitters while walking 5 this post season.
Looking at the starting pithing match up you’d think that the Nationals have a big advantage, but you never know. Greinke has made 15 career post season starts; so he has experience and he is a former Cy Young award winner. Scherzer has actually made 21 post season appearances with 17 of those being starts and he is a multiple time Cy Young award winner.
Well it’s down to one game and as they say all hands are on deck. So who do you have winning tonight? I have to stick with the Astros since they where my pick to win it all when we made are pre-season predictions.
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