Surging Nats complete sweep of Cardinals
Washington advances to franchise’s first World Series, awaits winner of Astros-Yankees clash
They were one of the worst teams in baseball two months into the season, so of course the Washington Nationals were in no mood to stay patient with a World Series appearance within their grasp.
The Nationals used a seven-run first inning to earn a 7-4 victory over the visiting St. Louis Cardinals late Tuesday night and finish off a four-game sweep of the National League Championship Series.
A World Series in the nation’s capital would have been tough to predict in the spring. The Nationals were 19-31 through May 23 with talk that manager Dave Martinez could be fired. Now Martinez’s team will bring Washington its first World Series since the 1933 Senators lost the Fall Classic in five games to the New York Giants.
“What a group of guys and what a ride,” said Nationals veteran Ryan Zimmerman, who has been with the club since it moved to Washington from Montreal in 2005.
Yan Gomes and Trea Turner drove in two runs each in the first inning as the Nationals pulled off the first playoff series sweep in franchise history. Washington will await the winner of the American League Championship Series, either the Houston Astros or the New York Yankees, opening the World Series on the road on Oct. 22.
Left-hander Patrick Corbin (1-2) gave the Nationals a fourth consecutive strong pitching performance in the series until the Cardinals got to him for three runs in the fifth inning. Corbin did allow four runs, but he struck out 12 over five innings.
Washington starters delivered a 1.35 ERA over 262/3 innings in the series.
Howie Kendrick was named MVP of the series by hitting .333 (5-for-15) with four doubles and four RBIs in the sweep. Kendrick went 0-for-3 with a walk and a run in the Game 4 clincher.
Cardinals starter Dakota Hudson (0-1) recorded just one out, giving up seven runs (four earned) on five hits with one walk. The Nationals not only were helped by a first-inning error by Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong, but Victor Robles’ RBI single fell untouched between Wong and right fielder Jose Martinez after a miscommunication.
The Cardinals never led in the series and were outscored 20-6 in the four games. It was the first sweep in the NLCS since 2015, when the New York Mets defeated the Chicago Cubs, and just the second NLCS sweep in 12 years.
The Cardinals struck out 48 times in the four games.
“They beat us, clearly,” St. Louis manager Mike Shildt said. “Hats off to them.”
The Nationals’ sixth consecutive victory in the postseason came decisively.
Turner led off the first inning with a single, Adam Eaton doubled, and Anthony Rendon lofted a sacrifice fly for a 1-0 lead. Juan Soto’s double made it 2-0, and after an intentional walk to Kendrick and a fielder’s choice from Zimmerman on which Wong dropped a sure force-out, Robles looped his RBI single to right.
Gomes and Turner delivered their tworun hits as the Nationals sent 11 batters to the plate in the inning.
“This is about as good as it gets, but we’re not done yet,” said a jubilant Zimmerman.
Astros 4, Yankees 1
Gerrit Cole dodged trouble at times and pitched seven shutout innings as Houston beat New York to take a 2-1 lead in the American League Championship Series.
Game 4 in the best-of-seven series was scheduled for Wednesday night, but with heavy rain in the forecast, the contest was postponed to Thursday, with Game 5 pushed back to Friday night.
Cole won his third consecutive start by holding the Yankees to four hits. The righthander, who was drafted by the Yankees in the first round in 2008 but did not sign, struck out seven and issued a career-hightying five walks while throwing 112 pitches.
Cole improved to 4-1 in the playoffs with the Astros. He won his team-record 19th straight decision over a 25-game stretch since May 27 in which he has a 1.59 ERA.
The Astros backed Cole with early homers off Luis Severino as Jose Altuve connected two batters in and Josh Reddick went deep leading off the second.
Houston added two runs in the seventh when Altuve scored on a wild pitch by Zack Britton and Yuli Gurriel hit a sacrifice fly.
The Yankees threatened in the first, second, fourth and fifth against Cole, putting at least two runners on base in each of those innings.
Cole opened the game by allowing consecutive singles to DJ LeMahieu and Aaron Judge and then walked Gleyber Torres to load the bases with two outs. However, he retired Didi Gregorius on an inning-ending grounder.
In the second, he struck out Aaron Judge to strand two runners, and in the fourth, he retired LeMahieu on a fly ball to the warning track with two on. The Yankees nearly took the lead in the fifth, but Gregorius flied out to right field on a ball that was inches away from being a three-run homer.
Cole then breezed through his final two innings and needed only 10 pitches in the seventh. The Yankees finally scored when Torres hit a one-out homer in the eighth off Joe Smith.
Will Harris easily finished the eighth, and Roberto Osuna tossed a perfect ninth for the save.
Severino took the loss, allowing two runs and five hits in 41/3 innings. (Reuters)