District On Deck
FanSided

Washington Nationals World Series: 3 takeaways from dramatic Game 1 win

By Jake Mastroianni

HOUSTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 22: Juan Soto #22, Victor Robles #16 and Adam Eaton #2 of the Washington Nationals celebrate their teams 5-4 win over the Houston Astros in Game One of the 2019 World Series at Minute Maid Park on October 22, 2019 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)
HOUSTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 22: Juan Soto #22, Victor Robles #16 and Adam Eaton #2 of the Washington Nationals celebrate their teams 5-4 win over the Houston Astros in Game One of the 2019 World Series at Minute Maid Park on October 22, 2019 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
4 of 4
Next
HOUSTON, TEXAS – OCTOBER 22: Sean  Doolittle #63 of the Washington Nationals celebrates after closing out the teams 5-4 win over the Houston Astros in Game One of the 2019 World Series at Minute Maid Park on October 22, 2019 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
HOUSTON, TEXAS – OCTOBER 22: Sean  Doolittle #63 of the Washington Nationals celebrates after closing out the teams 5-4 win over the Houston Astros in Game One of the 2019 World Series at Minute Maid Park on October 22, 2019 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /

Bullpen scares but holds

More from District on Deck

While the Astros weren’t ever able to get to Scherzer after that first inning, they did continue to make him work and were successful in getting to the Nats bullpen early in Game 1 of the World Series.

The first man up was Patrick Corbin who worked a fairly clean sixth inning except for a one-out single to a left-handed hitter, surprisingly.

I think a lot of Nats fans thought Corbin would come back out for the seventh, but Dave Martinez surprised us all by bringing in Tanner Rainey.

He promptly gave up a solo home run to George Springer and then issued back-to-back walks with one out before getting yanked for Daniel Hudson.

An infield single loaded the bases, setting up the third pivotal moment in the game for the Nats. Hudson was able to deliver by striking out Yordan Alvarez on three pitches.

Hudson then created is own mess in the eighth allowing a leadoff single to Kyle Tucker. And then came the fourth pivotal moment of this game as Springer came a few feet away from tying the game up.

Instead, it was an RBI double and left the Nats with a one-run lead. After getting Jose Altuve for the second out of the eighth, Hudson was pulled for Sean Doolittle.

Brantley stung a ball off Doolittle but Soto was able to track it down to end the threat.

Doolittle worked a pretty stress-free ninth inning; although, I thought Carlos Correa got that ball that landed shy of the warning track in center field wall to end the game.

Martinez made some bold decisions in the bullpen in Game 1, but they paid off as the Washington Nationals held on to win.

Next. Nats look to step on gas in Game 2. dark

The Washington Nationals will look to take a 2-0 lead in the World Series with Stephen Strasburg on the mound Wednesday night at 8:08 p.m. ET at Minute Maid Park.

Home/Nationals News