One mistake gets Washington back in series

WASHINGTON — As soon as the pitch left his hand, Cubs reliever Carl Edwards Jr. knew he wanted it back.

“It just didn’t come off the same,” Edwards said. “It was the wrong pitch. Actually, the right pitch. I just hung it.”

And when you hang an 80 mph curveball to Bryce Harper, whether he has been struggling or not, balls tend to land far, far away. Second deck far away.

It was Harper’s eighthinning, two-run blast that breathed life into the Nationals’ previously anemic — dead? — offense and then Ryan Zimmerman, three batters later, applied the back-breaker, a threerun homer off Mike Montgomery.

So the defending world champion Cubs were de- nied a 2-0 advantage on the road and instead go back to Wrigley Field with the NL Division Series tied, 1-1, thanks to their rousing 6-3 victory Saturday at Nationals Park.

The Cubs, mainly Jon Lester, had again kept the Nationals at bay. Edwards came on to pitch the eighth. He gave up a single to pinch hitter Adam Lind and struck out Trea Turner. Up stepped Harper. He buried a curve in the dirt. Harper swung and missed.

“Great swing on that pitch,” Harper said.

“That was the pitch I wanted to throw the last time,” Edwards said.

Three elevated fastballs brought the count to 3-1. Then came disaster with the game-tying homer into the second deck in right.

“As soon as it left my hand, I had an idea it wasn’t going down. He can hit,” Edwards said. “But I could have made the wrong pitch to anybody and have the same thing happen.”

If fact, Edwards said he made that pitch “a few times” throughout the season but “got away with it.” Not this time. “C.J. was the right man for the job,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said of Edwards. “C.J’s numbers against lefthanded hitters are amongst the best in all of baseball. ... I have all the confidence in the world in him. If that happens again, you’re going to see C.J. back out there.”

And then Zimmerman got Montgomery, who came in after Edwards walked Anthony Rendon. Daniel Murphy singled off Montgomery who eventually sent an 0-1 changeup that Zimmerman got into the wind blowing out in left. The ball just cleared the wall over left fielder Ben Zobrist.