Nationals take opener vs. Cardinals with one-hit gem
Aníbal Sánchez carried a no-hit bid into the eighth inning, Howie Kendrick had two more big swings and the Washington Nationals beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2-0 on Friday night in the NL Championship Series opener.
Sánchez had allowed just three runners when he took the mound for the eighth. First baseman Ryan Zimmerman robbed Tommy Edman with an outstanding diving grab at full stretch for the first out, but pinch-hitter José Martínez cleanly singled to center with two down for the Cardinals’ first hit.
Former A’s closer Sean Doolittle relieved and got four straight outs to finish the one-hitter for his first postseason save in two years.
Sánchez and Doolittle made life easy on manager Dave Martinez after the Nationals placed closer Daniel Hudson on the paternity list before the franchise’s first appearance in the NLCS since the Montreal Expos moved to Washington ahead of the 2005 season.
Game 2 is back at Busch Stadium today. Washington ace Max Scherzer starts in his hometown, and Adam Wainwright gets the ball for St. Louis.
St. Louis wasted a solid performance by Miles Mikolas, who pitched six innings of one-run ball in his second career playoff start. ALCS >> It’s the AL Championship Series matchup most everyone expected entering the season.
But the paths the Houston Astros and New York Yankees took to get here weren’t exactly what either team envisioned.
“It’s definitely been brewing,” Houston ace Justin Verlander said. “We heard from the first series we played each other: ‘Here’s an ALCS preview’ (and) it worked out.”
Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman and the Astros led the majors with a franchise-record 107 wins but needed five games to dispose of the wild-card Tampa Bay Rays in the AL Division Series. Aaron Judge, Gary Sánchez and New York overcame a laundry list of injuries to win 103 games and its first AL East title since 2012, then flattened the Twins.
“Both teams got here and they earned their way here maybe not as easily as people want to think,” Astros manager AJ Hinch said. “I think both teams had injuries. Both teams played well in the face of expectations, and it’s just not a simple plug-and-play season. One-hundred and sixty two games will expose you to a lot of different challenges.”
Game 1 is tonight in Houston after the Astros secured home-field advantage throughout the postseason by posting MLB’s best record.
“That’s huge for us that we get to start the ALCS here,” Altuve said. “We like it here. The stadium gets so loud that sometimes that helps us as players.”
While the Astros have home-field advantage, the Yankees could have some other edges. Since they swept their series they’ll have had four days of rest by Saturday’s game and will have their entire pitching staff available for the opener.
The quick turnaround for the Astros means that they won’t be able to start Gerrit Cole or Verlander in Game 1 and will instead go with trade-deadline acquisition and 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke, who struggled in a Game 3 loss in the division series.
Verlander will start Game 2 on Sunday night in Houston and Cole will get the nod in the third game on Tuesday in the Bronx.
“Three exceptional starting pitchers, and happy to line them up that way,” Hinch said.
The Yankees will counter with Masahiro Tanaka in Game 1, James Paxton in the second game and Luis Severino on Tuesday.
These two AL Goliaths have matched up in the playoffs often in recent history. Houston beat the Yankees in a seven-game ALCS on the way to its first championship in 2017. The Astros also won the 2015 AL wildcard game at Yankee Stadium.
The Astros are in the ALCS for a third straight year and the Yankees return for the second time in three seasons after falling to eventual champion Boston in the division series last year.
Houston swept a threegame series against the Yankees at home in April and the Yankees won three of four at home in their second matchup in June.
• Both teams have some important decisions to make before they set their rosters for this series. Hinch said he plans to carry one more pitcher than he did in the division series. It’s likely to be reliever Brad Peacock, who missed time late in the season with soreness in his throwing shoulder.
For the Yankees, manager Aaron Boone he has yet to make the final call on if center fielder Aaron Hicks and left-hander CC Sabathia will make their roster. Vallejo’s Sabathia was left off the roster against the Twins after not bouncing back well after a relief appearance late in the regular season.
PADRES PITCHER TASED >> A San Diego Padres pitcher who allegedly squeezed through a doggie door into an Arizona home was Tased and now faces criminal trespassing charges in the bizarre break-in.
Jacob Nix and fellow pitcher Thomas Cosgrove, both 23 and in the Padres minor league organization, were arrested this week on suspicion of first-degree criminal trespass after Nix allegedly crawled though the pet door at a home in Peoria, Arizona, a Phoenix suburb. Nix was pitching in the Arizona Fall League.
Nix told police he thought he was at his home and tried to enter through the front door. Failing that, he reportedly wedged his way into the doggie door.