Washington Nationals World Series: 3 takeaways from blowout win in Game 2

Where the game shifted

It’s fun to go back and look at a game and see the exact moment where a game shifted directions.

For me, that moment came in the bottom of the sixth inning.

After the Washington Nationals took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning, you could feel the hush over the anxious crowd having already lost Game 1.

But when the Houston Astros struck back with their MVP, Alex Bregman, hitting a two-run home run, the energy in the stadium shifted.

From that moment on it just felt like the Astros were going to eventually breakthrough.

Bregman came up in a big spot again in the third with runners on the corner and two outs, but was unable to come through.

They put runners on in the fourth and fifth as well, but Strasburg was able to keep them at bay.

In the sixth innings with Strasburg’s pitch count reaching 100, the home crowd thought this was going to the moment their team pulled away and knocked Strasburg out of the game.

With runners on first and second with one out, Carlos Correra came to the plate and worked the count full.

Strasburg was able to jam him on a change-up up-and-in that broke his bat and sent a pop-up harmlessly into Asdrubal Cabrera‘s glove.

But he wasn’t completely out of the jam yet.

Pinch-hitter Kyle Tucker came to the plate and Strasburg quickly fell behind in the count 2-0 with two pitches that weren’t close. It looked like maybe Strasburg was spent.

However, he came back and evened the count at 2-2, but then Tucker fouled a couple of pitches off before running the count full.

I don’t remember if anyone was up in the bullpen or not, but I would imagine this was going to be Strasburg’s last batter.

The former first-round draft pick made his biggest pitch of the night freezing Tucker with a curveball up in the zone to end the threat.

Strasburg ran off the field pumped up and that is when all the momentum in this game shifted to the Washington Nationals, leading to the seventh inning…