Astros bats come alive, even Series with Game 4 rout
WASHINGTON >> José Urquidy outpitched all those bigname aces who preceded him, the unheralded Houston rookie quieting Washington’s bats and the Nationals Park crowd, too.
Houston and Washington are all even in a World Series that has been one big road show.
Alex Bregman busted out of his slump with a goahead single in the first inning and a grand slam in the seventh, and the resurgent Astros routed the Nationals 8-1 Saturday night to tie the Series at two games apiece.
Game 1 winner Max Scherzer takes the mound tonight hoping to get a home Series victory for Washington for the first time since the Senators at Griffith Stadium in 1933. In a rematch of the opener, Gerrit Cole goes for Houston after losing for the first time since May.
Visiting teams have won the first four games for the first time since 1996, when the Yankees broke the pattern in Game 6 against Atlanta to take the title.
Game 6 will be Tuesday night in Houston, when the Astros lose their road-field advantage.
Yuli Gurriel also drove in a run in the first as Houston strung together four singles in a seven-pitch span for a 2-0 lead against Patrick Corbin. Robinson Chirinos homered for the second straight day, a two-run drive that boosted the lead to 4-0 in the fourth.
Fans started leaving in the seventh, when the Astros sent 10 batters to the plate and battered the bullpen. Bregman, who began the night in a 1-for-13 Series slide, had the big blow, driving a low, inside fastball from Fernando Rodney into the left field stands. He held his bat high as he slowly walked out of the batter’s box, then took nearly 30 seconds to circle the bases.
Orange-clad Houston fans in the right field upper deck chanted “Let’s go Astros!” as Nationals fans were silenced. Wild-card Washington lost consecutive games for the first time since Sept. 13-14 against Atlanta.
• Former Washington Senators great Frank Howard got a big ovation when he was recognized on the field before Game 4. The 83-year-old Howard, nicknamed “Hondo,” was the best offensive player on a series of mostly terrible Washington Senators teams from 1965 to 1971, the franchise’s last year in Washington. He hit 382 homers in 16 major league seasons.
• Aroldis Chapman says he has not yet decided whether to opt out of the final two years of his contract with the New York Yankees, which guarantees $30 million. Chapman was at the World Series on Saturday to receive the AL Reliever of the Year award from Mariano Rivera. Milwaukee’s Josh Hader got the NL honor from Trevor Hoffman.
The 31-year-old lefthander received the award a week after allowing a pennant-winning home run to Houston’s José Altuve in Game 6 of the AL Championship Series.
• Nationals catcher Kurt Suzuki was out of the starting lineup after injuring his right hip flexor. His availability for the rest of the series is in question.