The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former Brave, Astro McCann throws out 1st pitch of World Series
Brian McCann didn’t make it to the World Series as a player after returning to his original team, but he was still there for Game 1 in Houston. McCann, the primary catcher for the Astros’ championship season two years ago, threw out the ceremonial first pitch Tuesday to Evan Gattis, a catcher and DH for that 2017 team.
Both players became free agents after the 2018 season in Houston. McCann then signed with the Braves, the team he played on for the first nine of his 15 MLB seasons. He retired right after the Braves lost in the deciding Game 5 of the NL Division Series this month.
Gattis, 33, didn’t play this season. After two seasons with the Braves, he played for four years in Houston.
HOUSTON — Juan Soto and the Washington Nationals quickly derailed the Cole Express.
A 20-year-old prodigy with a passion for the big moment, Soto homered high above the left field wall and hit a two-run double as the Nats tagged Gerrit Cole and the Houston Astros 5-4 on Tuesday night in the World Series opener.
“After the first at-bat, I just said, ‘It’s another baseball game,’ ” Soto said. “In the first at-bat, I’m not going to lie, I was a little bit shaking in my legs.”
The 107-win Astros were trying to get even during Wednesday night’s Game 2.
Not even a history-making homer by George Springer — and another shot that nearly tied it in the eighth inning — could deter Washington on Tuesday. Ryan Zimmerman also homered to back pitcher Max Scherzer and boost the wild-card Nats in their first World Series appearance.
Otherworldly almost all season, Cole looked downright ordinary. Trea Turner singled on the second pitch of the game, and the Nationals were off and running, ending Cole’s 19-game winning streak that stretched 25 starts to May.
Not what Cole or anyone else at Minute Maid Park expected, especially after he led the majors in strikeouts, topped the AL in ERA and finished second in the bigs in wins to teammate Justin Verlander. Cole had breezed through the AL playoffs, too. Yet it was a further testament to an eternal truth about baseball: It doesn’t matter what you do the whole season if you don’t get it done in October.
Soto finished with three hits and a stolen base. Three days shy of his 21st birthday, the left fielder also snared Michael Brantley’s late try for a tying hit.
The MVP when Houston won its first crown in 2017, Springer set a record by homering in his fifth straight Series game to make it 5-3 in the seventh. But Nats reliever Daniel Hudson threw a fastball past rookie Yordan Alvarez with the bases loaded to end the inning. In the eighth, Springer put a charge into a drive to deep right-center, and it appeared as though he might’ve hit a tying, two-run homer. But he had to settle for an RBI double when the ball glanced off the glove of a leaping Adam Eaton at the fence.
Scherzer slipped in and out of trouble for five innings but found a way to escape jams. Projected Game 4 starter Patrick Corbin threw a scoreless sixth for the Nats. Springer connected off Tanner Rainey for his 14th career postseason home run before Hudson fanned Alvarez on three pitches.
Hudson retired Jose Altuve and Sean Doolittle got Brantley on a lineout to strand Springer at second in the eighth. Doolittle then closed for a save to give the Nationals their seventh straight victory.
Yuli Gurriel put Houston ahead with a two-run double in the first. Zimmerman hit the first World Series homer in Nationals history, connecting in the second.