Nationals sweep St. Louis to win NL pennant
Washington is heading to the World Series for the first time in 86 years after the wild-card Nationals used a seven-run first inning and Patrick Corbin's 12-strikeout performance to hold on and beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7- 4 Tuesday night for a sweep of the NL Championship Series.
Quite a stunning turnaround for the Nationals, who went from 19-31 in May when there was talk of firing manager Dave Martinez and trading away players to the Fall Classic in October. They have won 16 of their last 18 games.
C o r b i n , a $ 1 4 0 mi l - lion lefty, became the first pitcher to strike out 10 in the first four innings of a postseason game and earned the win. Washington put up seven runs in the first, all charged to rookie Dakota Hudson, who lasted all of 15 pitches.
Washington gets plenty of time to rest and set up its rotation before beginning the World Series in a week against the Houston Astros or New York Yankees.
Corbin, a l eft- handed pitcher signed with $140 million of the money that became available last offseason when Bryce Harper left town to join the Philadelphia Phillies, was not quite the equal of Washington's other starters in the series.
Still, he did become the first pitcher to strike out 10 batters in the first four i nnings of a postseason game and earned the win after allowing four runs in five innings.
The last time the World Series came to the nation's capital was 1933, when the Washington Senators lost to the New York Giants in five games. The lone baseball championship for the city was in 1924, when the Senators defeated the Giants
Cole pitches Astros to 2-1 series lead over Yankees
A gritty Gerrit Cole held t he New York Yankees scoreless without his sharpest stuff, Jose Altuve sparked Houston at the plate and the Astros locked down a 4-1 victory Tuesday to take a 2-1 lead in the AL Championship Series.
Altuve and Josh Reddick homered earl y off Luis Severino, who labored into the fifth while keeping the Yankees close. But they never broke through against Cole, who went seven innings to win his 19th straight decision despite walking five batters for the second time in his career.
Cole pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the first and stranded nine runners through five, i mproving to 3-0 with a 0.40 ERA in three outings this postseason. Poised to become a prized free agent this fall who could command more t han $ 200 million, he's putting together a dominant run that's beginning to rival some of baseball's greatest October pitching performances.
The 29-year-old righthander, unbeaten i n 25 starts since his last loss on May 22, allowed four hits and struck out seven. That ended a streak of 11 consecutive games with double-digit strikeouts — the previous big league record was eight. Cole led the majors in strikeouts this season.
Game 4 in the best-ofseven playoff is scheduled for Wednesday night — but that could change. The gloomy weather forecast calls for a substantial storm with steady-to-heavy rain and wind all night in New York, potentially forcing a postponement that would likely alter pitching plans for both teams.