A SERIES WINNER IN D.C. FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 1924
Kendrick hits go-ahead 2-run home run in 3-run 7th to give franchise first title; road team wins all 7 games
HOUSTON — From almost out of contention in May to champions in October.
Howie Kendrick, Anthony Rendon and the Nationals completed their amazing comeback journey with one last late rally on the road. In Game 7 of the World Series, no less.
Rendon hit a solo home run and Kendrick a two-run shot in the seventh inning as the Nationals overcame a two-run deficit after six innings to defeat the Astros 6-2 on Wednesday for the first title in franchise history.
With all eyes on right-hander Max Scherzer and his remarkable recovery from nerve irritation in his neck after a pain-killing injection, the Nationals truly embraced their shot in the only Series in which the road team won every game. They also came from behind to win five elimination games this postseason, an unprecedented feat.
‘‘What a story,’’ said first baseman Ryan Zimmerman, the Nationals’ first draft pick in 2005. ‘‘I hope D.C.’s ready for us to come home!’’
Series MVP Stephen Strasburg and the Nationals brought the first baseball championship to Washington since Walter Johnson delivered the crown for the Senators in 1924.
This franchise started out as the Expos in 1969, when the major leagues expanded beyond the United States by putting a team with tricolor caps at jaunty Jarry Park in Montreal. The franchise moved to Washington in 2005, ending the city’s threedecade-plus wait for major-league baseball after the Senators left town to become the Rangers.
But no one could have imagined the incredible path these wild-card Nationals would take to the title.
‘‘Resilient, relentless bunch of guys,’’ said manager Dave Martinez, who served as the Cubs’ bench coach under Joe Maddon in 2015-17. ‘‘They fought all year long.’’
Having lost star slugger Bryce Harper to free agency and beset by bullpen woes, the Nationals had a 19-31 record in late May. It got so bad that there was talk they might fire Martinez and trade Scherzer.
Instead, they stuck with the mantra that sprung up on T-shirts: Stay in the Fight. ‘‘That was out motto,’’ Scherzer said. Months later, they finished it. ‘‘Guess what? We stayed in the fight. We won the fight!’’ Martinez shouted during the trophy celebration on the field. ‘‘We were down and out. We were 19-31. We didn’t quit then, we weren’t going to quit now.’’
For the 43,326 revved-up fans at Minute Maid Park, it was a combination of shock and disappointment. So close to seeing the Astros win their second Series in three years, they watched the chance vanish as their team fell apart.
‘‘I’ve got a group of heartbroken men in there that did everything they could to try to bring a World Series championship to this city, and we fell one win shy,’’ Astros manager AJ Hinch said.
‘‘Let’s be honest, there’s 28 other teams that would love to have our misery today. We play to get here. We play to have an opportunity to win it all . . . . It’s hard to put into words and remember all the good that happened because right now we feel as bad as you can possibly feel.’’
The Nationals kept pulling away after taking the lead, with former White Sox outfielder Adam Eaton’s two-run single in the ninth accounting for the final margin.
Right-hander Zack Greinke was in complete control until Rendon homered to cut the Astros’ lead to 2-1 in the seventh.
When Juan Soto followed with a one-out walk, Hinch decided to make a move. He had right-hander Gerrit Cole warming up in the bullpen earlier, but this call was for right-hander Will Harris.
Kendrick connected on the second pitch, slicing a drive that hit the screen attached to the right-field foul pole to give the Nationals a 3-2 lead. Just like that, everything had changed.
For Kendrick, it was another timely blow. At 36, playing on the oldest team in the majors, the journeyman earned the National League Championship Series MVP award against the Cardinals after hitting the tiebreaking grand slam in the 10th inning of the deciding Game 5 of the NL Division Series against the Dodgers.
Far away, a big crowd poured into Nationals Park for a watch party. That was the stadium where the Astros hammered the Nationals for three games last weekend. But their luck changed in Texas.
‘‘The way this game went is the way our whole season went,’’ said Zimmerman, the last player left from the 2005 Nationals team that debuted in Washington.