World Series: Nationals and Astros reset in Game 5
With the World Series now tied at two games apiece, the Washington Nationals hope to regain the lead at home in Game 5.
This World Series will reset in Game 5 with the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros tied up at two games each and both team’s aces back on the mound.
When the Nationals left Houston with a 2-0 lead, this is certainly not what we had in mind.
But at the same time, as John Smoltz mentioned during the Game 4 broadcast, if you told Nationals fans before the World Series started that they’d be tied at 2-2 going into Game 5 I think most would have been on board.
In reality, this series probably should be tied at two. I thought going into this that the Nats would win games two and four.
But also as Smoltz mentioned, it’s the way we got to 2-2 that has Nationals fans with a sick feeling in their stomach.
Now this World Series turns into a best of three with possibly three more great pitching matchups remaining.
You know it’s going to be difficult for the Nationals to win back-to-back games against Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander, but they’ll need to do just that if they’re going to get back in this series and win it all.
Washington just has to sit back, reset, and get back to doing the things that were working in the first two games — and hope they start having some breaks go their way.
That quest will continue in Game 5 as we get a rematch between Cole and Max Scherzer on Sunday night.
Gerrit Cole vs Nationals hitters — round 2
This is exactly what the Washington Nationals were hoping to avoid, and exactly what the Houston Astros wanted.
Another chance for Gerrit Cole to redeem himself and give the Astros the lead in the World Series.
As we all know and already talked about in our Game 1 preview, Cole was possibly the best starting pitcher in all of baseball in 2019.
But the Nationals were able to get to him in Game 1 scoring 5 earned runs on 8 hits and a walk over 7 innings with 6 strikeouts.
It was the first time in 13 starts he didn’t have more strikeouts than innings pitched. And that seemed to be the gameplan for the Nationals hitters.
They attacked early in the at-bat and didn’t give Cole a chance to get to two strikes. Five of their eight hits against Cole came with less than two strikes.
It will be interesting to see if Cole changes up his gameplan and works backwards in the count to try and take advantage of the aggressiveness of the Nationals hitters.
Game 1 was just the third game all season in which Cole gave up more than 4 earned runs, and just the sixth time he gave up more than 3 earned runs.
So the likely hood that the Nationals put up another big number against him is not good.
Adam Eaton and Juan Soto both had a couple of hits off Cole, and they both had a hit in that 3-run fifth inning.
Max Scherzer vs. Astros hitters — round 2
It was a battle for Max Scherzer in Game 1, but battle he did as he held the Houston Astros scoreless after the first inning and earned the win.
From the beginning, it was clear that the gameplan for the Astros hitters was to work the pitch count for Scherzer and get into the Nationals bullpen.
That strategy worked as Scherzer only last 5 innings, but the Nationals were able to get a big enough lead before he left so that the bullpen was just able to hang on.
Scherzer’s final line in Game 1 was: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 BB, 2 ER, 7 K, and 112 pitches.
I would imagine the Astros will have that same kind of approach in Game 5, and I think they’ll take that Game 1 line again knowing Cole should have a better game.
We’ll see if Scherzer changes things up and maybe pounds the strike zone a little more early in the count. And it’s very possible he was just struggling with command issues in Game 1, in which case he’ll need to have better command this time around.
Yuli Gurriel had a couple of hits off Scherzer in Game 1, including a 2 RBI double in the first inning.
George Springer worked two walks against Max in that game with some really long at-bats.
Yordan Alvarez had a walk and a single against him, but he hasn’t been able to play in games three and four because he’s the DH. We’ll see if the Astros can work him into the lineup for Game 5.
Preview and Prediction
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The Astros only lost back-to-back games that Gerrit Cole started twice all season, and both of those instances happened before the end of April.
In fact, all five of Cole’s regular season losses came before the end of May. That loss in Game 1 was his first loss since May 22.
I say that to say, it’s going to be super difficult for the Nationals to beat him again.
But on the flip side, the Nationals have won the last six games that Scherzer pitched in, and 16 of his last 19 starts.
This should still be a very low scoring game and a great pitcher’s duel.
Honestly, I think both pitchers could have pitched better in Game 1.
This time around I think Scherzer goes six and gives up 2 runs, and I think Cole goes seven again and gives up 2 runs.
This might come down to a battle of the bullpens.
The negative in that for the Astros is that they’ve had to use some of their best guys two straight days. While the negative for the Nationals is that Corbin won’t be available out of the pen this time (and that may be a good thing after what happened in Game 4).
I hate to be negative, but it’s just hard to imagine the Nationals beating Cole twice in the World Series.
Winner: Astros
A good bullpen?. dark. Next
The Nationals will play their final home game of the year on Sunday night in Game 5 starting at 8:07 p.m. ET on FOX. If the Nats win, be sure to come back and let me know how big of an idiot I am.