World Series: 3 Takeaways from Nationals dramatic Game 6 win
The road team continues to dominate this World Series as the Washington Nationals go to Houston and force a Game 7 with a 7-2 win in Game 6.
Stephen Strasburg and the Washington Nationals showed some fight on Tuesday as they won Game 6 to force a Game 7 in this back-and-forth World Series.
Still, a home team has not won a game in this World Series.
Just like in Game 2, both of these pitchers struggled in the first inning as Justin Verlander gave up a run in the top half and the Astros struck back with two in the bottom half.
But just like in Game 2, both starters settled down after that.
Once again the Nationals hitters wore down Verlander and were able to get to him later in the game and this time they got him out after just 5 innings with a 3-2 lead.
And Anthony Rendon finally had his breakout game in this World Series with a two-run home run and 5 RBI in Game 6.
This really was a gutty performance for the Nationals after losing three straight games at home in DC. But what else did you expect from this group?
All season long it feels like they’ve been playing with their backs against the wall, and they continue thriving in that moment.
With a win in Game 6, we now will have a winner-take-all Game 7 on Wednesday night in Houston to finish off what has been an amazing World Series.
But before we start looking ahead to Game 7, let’s take a look back at a wild Game 6 and some of the biggest takeaways from the Nationals win.
Plenty of fireworks
There were plenty of fireworks in this game, and not many of them actually happened during game action.
Alex Bregman got it all started when he hit a first inning home run and carried his bat all the way to first base. That took a lot of people by surprise, including his first base coach, and seemingly rubbed a lot of the Nationals players the wrong way.
Juan Soto responded in the fifth inning when he hit a solo home run and carried his bat all the way to first base, dropping it off at the feet of the first base coach.
This was a really fun moment in the game, especially for Nationals fans, to see Soto respond to the arrogance of Bregman. I don’t think we’ve seen the last of this episode.
https://twitter.com/MLBONFOX/status/1189364368443502592
And then things really got crazy in the seventh inning when Trea Turner was called out on batter interference for running inside the first baseline and running into Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel.
Had home plate umpire Sam Holbrook not made that call, which was questionable, to say the least, the Nationals would have had runners on second and third with no outs.
We had about a 10 minute delay as the umpires reviewed or talked about the rule — it’s still unclear what they were doing on the headsets for so long.
And then the Nationals tried to put the game under protest but were told they couldn’t.
The angst of Nationals fans was somewhat put to rest because Anthony Rendon hit a two-run home run, but that didn’t satisfy Dave Martinez who blew a gasket in between innings and got tossed.
Nationals fans now understand the frustration from Atlanta Braves fans with Sam Holbrook as he made another very questionable, potential game-changing call, in the postseason.
Luckily, it didn’t affect the outcome and the Nationals still won.
Home runs
The Washington Nationals had hit just one home runs in the last three games of this series, but they broke out the long ball on Tuesday night hitting three.
And they were all huge home runs as they came in the fifth inning or later.
An Adam Eaton solo shot in the fifth tied the game at two, and then a couple of batters later Juan Soto put the Nationals on top with an absolute moonshot.
https://twitter.com/MLBONFOX/status/1189360906037334017
And then after that seventh inning debacle that seemingly could have shifted the tide in the Astros favor, Rendon responded with a huge 2-run home run to take the wind out of the crowd and the Astros.
The Nationals hit 5 home runs in the first two games of this series, so maybe they just enjoy hitting at Minute Maid Park.
Washington’s offense was actually much better at home during the regular season hitting 29 more home runs at home than on the road with an OPS of .841 at Nationals Park.
However, it has been a much different story in the postseason. They’ve played one more home game coming into Game 6 and have four more home runs on the road and their OPS is almost 100 points higher on the road in the postseason.
That’s been fairly obvious in this World Series, and hopefully it continues in Game 7.
Strasburg steadies the ship
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What can you say about the performance from Stephen Strasburg in Game 6?
He was brilliant, clutch, amazing, etc.
When the Washington Nationals needed him most, he stepped up and delivered a gem.
He gave up just those two first-inning runs, and overall surrendered just 5 hits and 2 walks over 8.1 innings with 7 strikeouts.
And I have no doubt he could have gone the distance if the Nationals needed him to.
Again, things were shaky at the start for Strasburg after he gave up a pair of runs in the first inning — just like he did in Game 2.
But after that, it was pretty much lights out.
He had 1-2-3 innings in the second and third and then walked a couple of batters in the fourth before getting a big strikeout.
His biggest jam after the first, and maybe the biggest moment of the game, came in the bottom of the fifth when a double from George Springer put runners on second and third with one out in a 3-2 game with Jose Altuve coming to the plate.
But he got Altuve to strikeout on three pitches, finishing him off with a nasty curveball in the dirt. And then got Michael Brantley to ground out on a sharply hit ball that Turner made a great play on.
This was the performance of a lifetime for Strasburg. And no matter what happens in Game 7, or what Strasburg decides to do after the season, no one will soon forget his Game 6 effort and what he did for the Nationals in this postseason.
He finished the 2019 postseason allowing just 8 earned runs on 30 hits and 4 walks with 47 strikeouts over 36.1 innings pitched (1.98 ERA, 0.937 WHIP).
And he tied the record for most wins in a single postseason with five. I’d say that’s a pretty spectacular postseason performance.
Next. Will Strasburg opt-out of contract?. dark
The Washington Nationals and Houston Astros will play one more time on Wednesday night for a World Series title. It’s expected that Max Scherzer will be on the mound against Zack Greinke.