Nationals sweep Cards, reach World Series
Astros take lead
WASHINGTON, Oct 16, (RTRS): They were one of the worst teams in baseball two months into the season, so of course the Washington Nationals were in no mood to stay patient with a World Series appearance within their grasp.
The Nationals used a seven-run first inning to earn a 7-4 victory over the visiting St Louis Cardinals on Tuesday and finish off a four-game sweep of the National League Championship Series.
A World Series in the nation’s capital would have been tough to predict in the spring. The Nationals were an abysmal 19-31 through May 23 with talk that manager Dave Martinez could be fired. Now Martinez’s team will bring Washington its first World Series since the 1933 Senators lost the Fall Classic in five games to the New York Giants.
“What a group of guys and what a ride,” said Nationals veteran Ryan Zimmerman, who has been with the club since it moved to Washington from Montreal in 2005. “This is about as good as it gets, but we’re not done yet.” Yan Gomes and Trea Turner drove in two runs each in the first inning as the Nationals pulled off the first playoff series sweep in franchise history. Washington will await the winner of the American League Championship Series,
Left-hander Patrick Corbin (1-2) gave the Nationals a fourth consecutive strong pitching performance in the series until the Cardinals got to him for three runs in the fifth inning. Corbin did allow four runs, but he struck out 12 over five innings.
Washington starters delivered a 1.35 ERA over 26-2/3 innings in the series.
Cardinals starter Dakota Hudson (01) recorded just one out, giving up seven runs (four earned) on five hits with
BASEBALL
one walk. The Nationals not only were helped by a first-inning error by Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong, but Victor Robles’ RBI single fell untouched between Wong and right fielder Jose Martinez after a miscommunication.
The Cardinals never led in the series and were outscored 20-6 in the four games. It was the first sweep in the NLCS since 2015, when the New York Mets defeated the Chicago Cubs, and just the second NLCS sweep in 12 years.
The Cardinals struck out 48 times in the four games.
Turner led off the first inning with a single, Adam Eaton doubled, and Anthony Rendon lofted a sacrifice fly for a 1-0 lead. Juan Soto’s double made it 2-0, and after an intentional walk to Howie Kendrick and a fielder’s choice from Zimmerman on which Wong dropped a sure forceout, Robles looped his RBI single to right.
Gomes and Turner delivered their two-run hits as the Nationals sent 11 batters to the plate in the inning.
The Cardinals scored three times in the fifth inning, once on Tommy Edman’s groundout and twice on a Martinez double.
Nationals relievers Tanner Rainey (one inning), Sean Doolittle (1-2/3 innings) and Daniel Hudson (1-1/3 innings) closed out the win. Hudson left the bases loaded in the eighth inning en route to his second save of the series and fourth in this year’s postseason.
Gerrit Cole dodged trouble at times and pitched seven shutout innings as the Houston Astros beat the New York Yankees 4-1 on Tuesday to take a 2-1 series lead in the American League Championship Series.
Game 4 in the best-of-seven series is scheduled for Wednesday night, but heavy rain is in the forecast. A rainout would push the game back to Thursday.
Cole (1-0) won his third consecutive start in this year’s postseason by holding the Yankees to four hits. The right-hander, who was drafted by the Yankees in the first round in 2008 but did not sign, struck out seven and issued a career-high-tying five walks while throwing 112 pitches.
Cole improved to 4-1 in the playoffs with the Astros. He won his team-record 19th straight decision over a 25game stretch since May 27 in which he has a 1.59 ERA.
The Astros backed Cole with early homers off Luis Severino (0-1) as Jose Altuve connected two batters in and Josh Reddick went deep leading off the second.
Houston added two runs in the seventh when Altuve scored on a wild pitch by Zack Britton and Yuli Gurriel lifted a sacrifice fly.
The Yankees threatened in the first, second, fourth and fifth against Cole, putting at least two runners on base in each of those innings.
Cole opened the game by allowing consecutive singles to D.J. LeMahieu and Aaron Judge and then walked Gleyber Torres to load the bases with two outs. However, he retired Didi Gregorius on an inning-ending grounder.
In the second, he struck out Judge to strand two runners, and in the fourth, he retired LeMahieu on a fly ball to the center field warning track with two on. The Yankees nearly took the lead in the fifth, but Gregorius flied out to right field on a ball that was inches away from being a three-run homer.