In yet another component of our anniversary flashback series that will continue through the month of October and beyond, let's take a look back on this date in 2019, when the Washington Nationals took a commanding 2-0 lead in the World Series over the Houston Astros.
It was a game that us Nats fans expected to be a pitcher's duel between AL Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander and playoff legend and World Series MVP winner Stephen Strasburg, but the game wouldn't exactly turn out as such.
The game would not be close, as both the Nationals and Astros would trade 2 runs in the first. Anthony Rendon doubled home Adam Eaton and Trea Turner to give the Nats a 2-0 lead, but Strasburg would have a rare playoff misstep, giving up a game-tying 2-run homer to Alex Bregman. The game would be knotted at 2-2 until the 7th inning when the Nationals broke open the scoring and took a commanding 8-2 lead that they would never surrender.
Kurt Suzuki led off the 7th inning with a solo shot to make it 3-2, and the Nationals kept pouring it on from there. The Nats would load the bases after chasing Verlander from the game, and NLCS MVP Howie Kendrick would drive in the second run of the inning to make it 4-2. The next batter was Asdrubal Cabrera, who drove in another pair to make it 6-2 Washington. Employee #11, Ryan Zimmerman, came up next and singled home yet another pair to make it 8-2. In a span of just a few batters, the Nationals went from being in a 2-2 nail-biter to an 8-2 blowout while being able to save their high leverage bullpen arms like Sean Doolittle and Daniel Hudson.
The festivities continued in the 8th inning, as Adam Eaton would bring in yet another pair of runs on a 2-run shot to right field, extending the Nats' lead to 10-2. A few batters later, Cabrera would strike again, driving in Juan Soto to give the Nationals a 9-run advantage, and an 11-2 advantage.
Finally, Michael A. Taylor would add the final exclamation point to the evening with a solo shot to left off of Astros reliever Chris Devenski, giving the Nats an even 10-run lead over the Astros, at 12-2. The Nats turned to veteran reliever Javy Guerra to shut the door in the ninth (I didn't even know he was on the World Series roster until he came in for the inning), and he served up a tater to the notoriously light-hitting Martin Maldonado, the Astros catcher, who cut the Astros deficit to just 9 runs. Guerra would finish out the game and the Nats were headed back to DC with a 2-0 series lead, looking to close out the series at home.
Strasburg earned the victory after going 6.0 innings, allowing just 2 earned runs from the Bregman homer while scattering 7 hits. He also struck out 7 and walked just 1, with this performance helping to play into his case to earn World Series MVP. Verlander took the loss, allowing 4 earned runs on 7 hits and 3 walks while striking out 6. Surely, with a 2-0 series lead and the series headed back to DC for 3 straight games that the Nationals would be able to close it out in front of their home fans, right? Stay tuned to the next installment of my anniversary series to find out what historic moment we'll look back on next.
What sort of emotions were you feeling after the Nats went up 2-0? I personally thought they would close it out in 5, and the home fans would get to witness history. As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.