Cubs’ Hendricks opens the series with shutout gem
WASHINGTON — Kyle Hendricks outpitched Stephen Strasburg, and the Chicago Cubs opened defense of their first World Series title in 108 years by beating the Washington Nationals, 3-0, Friday in Game 1 of this National League Division Series.
Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo produced RBI singles in the sixth inning for the first two hits off an otherwise-dominant Strasburg. Hendricks was even better, giving up only two singles in seven strong innings.
Rizzo added an RBI double off reliever Ryan Madson in the eighth. Carl Edwards Jr. threw a perfect inning and Wade Davis finished the 2-hitter for a save.
Game 2 in the best-of-five series is Saturday, with Jon Lester set to start for Chicago against fellow lefthander Gio Gonzalez.
Strasburg didn’t allow a hit until there were two outs in the sixth.
Javier Baez reached on third baseman Anthony Rendon’s error to start the inning and was sacrificed to second by Hendricks. One out later, Bryant drove in the first run with a single to right-center and went to second when Bryce Harper missed the cutoff man.
The next batter, Rizzo, singled to right in front of a diving Harper to make it 2-0.
With a heavy beard and a lot of sweat on a muggy, 77degree night, Strasburg dialed up his fastball to 97 mph and occasionally used an unhittable changeup.
To cheers of “Let’s go, Strasburg!” from many in a sellout crowd of 43,898, he held the Cubs without a hit for 5⅔ innings and wound up with 10 strikeouts, a playoff record for the Expos-Nationals franchise.
In only his second postseason appearance — remember the shutdown of 2012 and the arm injury of 2016? — the righty showed precisely the sort of power and poise that made him the No. 1 pick in baseball’s amateur draft. Until, that is, the sixth inning. That’s when everything changed in a matter of minutes.
Strasburg wound up allowing those two unearned runs in seven innings, with three hits and one walk.