Washington Nationals force decisive game 7
HOUSTON: Stephen Strasburg overcame a bumpy opening frame to pitch 8 1/3 sterling innings, and Anthony Rendon drove in five runs as the Washington Nationals forced a decisive Game 7 of the World Series with a 72 victory over the Houston Astros yesterday.
The result extended a historic run for road teams, who have won each game of this Fall Classic, a first in postseason history.
Strasburg (20) allowed two runs and three hardhit balls in the first inning, but he blanked the Astros for the remainder of his outing. He wound up yielding five hits and two walks with seven strikeouts.
After Strasburg retired the first batter in the ninth, Sean Doolittle entered and set down two of the next three hitters to even the series.
George Springer greeted Strasburg with a double off the left field scoreboard on the first pitch of the first. Following a wild pitch, the Astros erased a 10 deficit when Springer scored on a Jose Altuve sacrifice fly. One out later, Alex Bregman delivered a solo homer to left field, with Strasburg eluding additional damage when Juan Soto caught a 364foot (110m) blast from Yuli Gurriel at the wall in leftcentre.
Astros righthander Justin Verlander (02) allowed an oppositefield, runscoring single to Rendon in the first. Excluding his perfect frame in the second, Verlander laboured over his fiveinning stint. He stranded two runners in the third inning and two more in the fourth but surrendered solo homers to Adam Eaton and Soto in the fifth, with Soto smacking a 413foot blast to right for a 32 lead.
Rendon rendered a controversial umpiring decision moot with his first homer of the series in the seventh. Trea Turner was ruled out on interference when he clipped Gurriel, who was stretching while making a play at first base. Two batters later, Rendon belted a tworun homer off Astros righthander Will Harris, marking the first run Harris allowed following 10 scoreless appearances in this year’s postseason. — Reuters