CLOSING TIME ISN’T HIS TIME
Verlander is 0-for-2 in elimination games this postseason
WASHINGTON — George Springer shook his head at the mere mention of Astros teammate Justin Verlander’s October trouble. He’s the only pitcher in history to go 0-5 in the World Series.
“We wouldn’t be here without him,” Springer said. “I don’t care what individual stats say.”
Then, as if to emphasize the point, the Astros outfielder repeated himself: “We wouldn’t be here without him. So I’m glad that we’re handing the ball to him. We’ll see what happens.”
Verlander will get a chance to make people forget his postseason struggles, including losses in win-and-advance games in the American League Division Series and AL Championship Series, if he can help the Astros clinch a second title in three years. The 36-year-old right-hander will start Game 6 at home against Stephen Strasburg and the Nationals on Tuesday.
“He’s prepared. He’s ready for this moment” said Gerrit Cole, Verlander’s rotation-mate and chief competition for the AL Cy Young Award. “We’ve been communicating back and forth throughout the whole series on how we were going to make an adjustment to what we were seeing and how we were going to attack.
“It’s going to be business as usual for him. He’s going to set the tone for us. Hopefully, we can back him up with some runs and play some great ‘D.’ ”
Cole gave up one run in seven innings and struck out nine as the Astros took a 3-2 series lead Sunday by beating the Nationals 7-1.
Springer, Carlos Correa and rookie Yordan Alvarez all delivered two-run homers for the team that led the majors with 107 wins in the regular season.
Both teams have been at home on the road. Only two other times in history did the home team fail to win any of the first five games of a World Series.
The Nationals won the first two games in Houston by a combined score of 17-7, before the Astros took all three games in Washington by a total tally of 19-3.
The Nationals entered the weekend having won 18 of 20 games, which was the best streak the team had posted since moving from Montreal to Washington in 2005. Then they went 0-3 at home.
“We’re just going back there,” Nationals outfielder Juan Soto said, “trying to do the same thing we did before.”
If Verlander can’t close out the series and there’s a Game 7 on Wednesday, the Nationals will hope they can start three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer, who was scratched just hours before Game 5 because of a neck problem that left him unable to lift his throwing arm.
Scherzer said he was given a cortisone shot and needed his wife’s help just to get dressed.
“This is just a little thing that turned into a big thing that turned into a giant thing,” he said. “I’m just hoping that the doctors are right and that something could be possible for Game 7.”
There was no definite word Monday.
“Hopefully, he’s a little bit better,” manager Dave Martinez said before the team traveled to Texas. “My understanding is it takes about 24 hours for this injection to really work.” Given Verlander’s recent history, the Nationals just might find out. After going 21-6 with a 2.58 ERA and 300 strikeouts during the regular season, this is what Verlander has done in five postseason starts in 2019: 1-3, 4.15 ERA, 35 strikeouts, 11 walks.
That includes a 12-3 loss in Game 2, also against Strasburg.
Five days later, Verlander gets another shot at the Nationals.
Still, it’s important to recall that two years ago, in another Game 6, Verlander could have sealed the Fall Classic against the Dodgers. He even had a sixth-inning lead, but the Astros wound up losing 3-1. They came back the next night to win Game 7 for their first title.
“We’ve got J.V. on the mound. A J.V. day is fun. I’ve been watching that guy pitch for a lot of years,” Astros reliever Joe Smith said. “He ain’t slowing down.”