Nats savor 1st World Series title
Print Edition
Given the sequence of events that unfolded in the top of the seventh inning in Games 2 and 6 of the World Series, there was reason to suspect that the Washington Nationals had a bit more magic on tap when the seventh inning commenced in Game 7 on Wednesday.
That Anthony Rendon and Howie Kendrick delivered for Washington was to be expected.
Rendon and Kendrick both slugged home runs in the Nationals’ turnaround three-run seventh, with Kendrick drilling an opposite-field, two-run homer that helped Washington complete an upset of the Houston Astros in a 6-2 victory that secured the Major League Baseball franchise’s first championship.
It’s the city of Washington’s second World Series title, following the Senators’ crown in 1924. The Montreal Expos debuted in 1969, later moving to Washington to become the Nationals in 2005.
The Nats also became the first team to earn four road wins in a World Series.
Kendrick, whose grand slam in the 10th inning of Game 5 of the National League Division Series felled the 106-win Los Angeles Dodgers, again struck the decisive blow for Washington. Kendrick slapped an 0-1 cutter from Astros right-hander Will Harris (0-1) off the right field foul pole for a two-run shot that erased a 1-2 deficit.
“I just had a feeling it was going to get real quiet that inning,” said Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg, named World Series Most Valuable Player for winning Games 2 and 6. “And it did.”
The Nationals totaled 11 runs in the seventh inning in their final three wins of the series. Washington became the sixth consecutive team to clinch the World Series on the road.
In the seventh on Wednesday, Rendon continued his string of clutch performances in the latter stages of elimination games, popping a solo homer to left that sliced the Nationals’ deficit to 1-2. Including his 374-shot into the Crawford Boxes in left, Rendon was 6-for-6 with a walk, three doubles and three home runs in the seventh inning or later of elimination games.
“To me, that was the key,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. “He really opened it up right there.”
Houston starter Zack Greinke then issued a 1-out walk to Juan Soto, prompting Astros manager AJ Hinch to make a pitching change. Greinke had pitched masterfully, facing the minimum through four innings before completing five scoreless frames with just 59 pitches on his ledger.
Replacing Greinke was Harris, who had his string of 10 consecutive scoreless postseason appearances snapped when Rendon homered in the seventh inning of Game 6. Kendrick followed with his series-alerting shot.
“It’s a decision I’ll have to live with,” Hinch said of pulling Greinke, who had thrown 80 pitches. “I’ll think about it. And I don’t know what would have happened had I left him in. But that was kind of where I targeted based on where the game was going and what we had available to us.”
Greinke wound up charged with two runs on two hits and two walks with three strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.
Soto stroked an RBI single in the eighth to extend the lead to 4-2, and Washington added two insurance runs in the ninth, ensuring victories for the road team in all seven games of the series, a first in any major United States sport.
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