World Series: 3 takeaways as Nationals allow Astros to tie things up in Game 4
We take a look at the three biggest takeaways from Game 4 as the Houston Astros were able to tie up this World Series with the Washington Nationals at two games.
The Washington Nationals have dropped the first two games at home in this World Series and allowed the Houston Astros to tie things up with an 8-1 win in Game 4.
Home field advantage hasn’t meant much so far in this World Series as neither home team has won a game.
That’s a bit unusual as both teams were excellent at home this season. The Astros won 60 games at home, while the Nationals won 50 games at Nationals Park.
But now the Nationals have just one more chance to get a win at home in this World Series before things shift back to Houston.
We’ve been wondering when the MVP candidates — Anthony Rendon and Alex Bregman — would make their mark in this World Series.
And while Rendon had a couple of hits in Game 4, it was Bregman who had his signature moment with 5 RBI, including a grand slam to put the game away in the seventh.
As Nationals fans, you just have to keep hoping Rendon will have his moment at some point.
Again, the Nats third baseman now has 4 hits in this series, but none of them in the biggest moments of the game. At some point the Nats are going to need him to have that moment if Washington is going to win the World Series.
To be honest, there’s not much to breakdown from Game 4. There isn’t really a key moment or two that swung this game one way or the other — the Astros just simply won the game.
But we’ll look at the three biggest takeaways from Game 4 and what it could mean going forward.
Them’s the breaks
Looking back I didn’t think Patrick Corbin was terrible in this game, but when he made a mistake, the Houston Astros made him pay for it.
Outside of the first and fourth innings, Corbin was really good. He gave up 4 earned runs on 6 hits and 2 walks in those 2 innings. In the other four innings he pitched he allowed just a single hit.
And on the Nationals side, it seemed like whenever they stung a baseball it went right to an Astros fielder.
That’s really just the way things go in baseball sometimes.
In the first two games of this series it seemed like everything was going the way of the Nationals, but it’s been the exact opposite the last two games.
Some of that has to do with the fact that the Nationals are striking out more in key situations, while the Astros are putting the ball in play.
And as I’ve talked about here recently, when you put the ball in play good things can happen.
With that in mind, the Nationals now have to face the two most prolific strikeout pitchers in the all of baseball in the next two games.
But the Nationals have a pair of aces that aren’t too shabby either.
At some point the breaks have to come back the Nationals way, right?
Uriquay dominates
In what was supposed to be a bullpen game, Jose Urquidy turned in one of the best starting pitching performances of this World Series for either team.
The 24-year-old had the Nationals hitters guessing all night and shut them out over 5 innings only allowing 2 hits while striking out four and not walking anyone.
Before Saturday, his longest outing in the postseason was 2.2 innings.
In the regular season he threw 5 innings or more just four times in nine outings.
This is something the young pitcher was definitely capable of, but I don’t think the Astros even believed in their wildest dreams they’d get 5 shutout innings from him.
The only time Uriquay was in trouble was in the third inning when Yan Gomes led off the inning with a double.
But he quickly retired the next three batters to get out of the jam.
He had a 1-2-3 inning in three of his five innings before turning it over the bullpen.
Some nights you just have to tip your cap to the opposing pitcher, and this was one of those nights.
Urquidy had everything working and the Nationals hitters couldn’t touch him.
It will be interesting to see if the Astros try to bring him back later in this series — for the Nationals sake, let’s hope not.
About that bullpen…
I wrote earlier on Saturday about whether or not this Nationals bullpen had turned a corner and was actually good.
They showed in Game 4 why that’s still not the case.
As I wrote earlier, I thought Corbin pitched a decent game and at least kept the Nationals in it through 6 innings.
Dave Martinez went to his more trusted relievers in the seventh to try and keep the game close, but neither Tanner Rainey or Fernando Rodney had it working as both gave up 2 runs.
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Both continued their struggles with walks as they combined to issue 5 free passes in just two-thirds of an inning.
And it was Rodney who gave up the grand slam that allowed the Astros to put the game away.
Wander Suero had to come on and get the Nationals out of the seventh. And then Javy Guerra pitched a clean inning.
As I talked about in the article linked above, even though the Washington bullpen has shown some promise at times in this World Series, Sean Doolittle and Daniel Hudson are the only arms you can trust out of the bullpen.
And those are the only two guys you will see used the rest of the way if the Nationals have a lead late — outside of a starter being used in relief.
With the game being a blowout, both teams will have their top bullpen arms available for Game 5. The only exception might be Will Harris for the Astros who came in to put out that sixth inning fire.
Next. Suzuki injured, might be replaced on roster. dark
These two teams will have one more game in DC on Sunday night for Game 5 before going back to Houston.