Nationals’ stellar rotation turns to Strasburg in Game 3
WASHINGTON — Thanks to some superb pitching, the countdown is on to the Washington Nationals’ first World Series appearance.
Up 20 on the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Championship Series after stellar pitching performances by Anibal Sanchez and Max Scherzer, the Nationals turn to Stephen Strasburg in Game 3 on Monday with the chance to take a stranglehold.
“They’re getting quick outs. They’re constantly ahead in counts,” Nationals closer Sean Doolittle said Sunday. “Those kinds of things are kind of things that, when you’re down there in the bullpen, you see that, and you feed off that energy. So when your number gets called, you basically want to do the same thing.”
Washington has used just seven pitchers in its first seven postseason games, a small figure in an era of quick triggers and rotating relievers: Scherzer, Strasburg, Sanchez, Doolittle, projected Game 4 starter Patrick Corbin and relievers Daniel Hudson and Tanner Rainey.
It has worked so far. But manager Dave Martinez knows he can’t guarantee he’ll be able to keep the same rotation throughout the rest of the postseason.
“I’m hoping that this continues, but there might become a moment where somebody goes five or six innings and we have to do something else,” Martinez said. “When that happens, we’ll have the matchups ready for the ingame decisions.”
Strasburg takes a 1.32 career postseason ERA to the mound for the first Championship Series game in the nation’s capital. The righthander is 20 in the playoffs this fall.
“For me, it’s trying to focus on what you can control, disregard what you cannot control,” Strasburg said. “And that really comes down to executing a game plan, taking it one pitch at a time, and just trying to make as many good pitches as possible and letting the chips fall as they may.”
Teams that have taken a 20 lead on the road in a bestofseven series have gone on to win 88% of the time in MLB history. The first step toward bucking those odds for St. Louis is sending 23yearold ace Jack Flaherty to the mound in Game 3.
“He’s in a big spot, but I don’t think there’s any spot too big for him,” St. Louis center fielder Dexter Fowler said.