Juan Soto homered and knocked in three runs, and Sean Doolittle closed things out with a four-out save as the Washington Nationals stole Game 1 of the 2019 World Series, defeating Houston 5-4.
The Nats had to take down Astros starter Gerrit Cole, who had won 19 straight decisions dating back to May 22, and was staked to a 2-0 lead in the first on a two-out, two-run first-inning double off the bat of Yuli Gurriel.
UVA alum Ryan Zimmerman homered with two outs in the Nats second to get Washington on the board.
A Soto solo shot tied the game at 2-2 in the fourth.
An Adam Eaton RBI single put Washington ahead in the fifth, and then Soto’s second big hit of the night, a two-strike, two-out double, made it 5-2 Nats.
Washington starter Max Scherzer was only able to go five innings, meaning it was up to the beleaguered Nats bullpen to close things out.
Projected Game 3 starter Patrick Corbin gave Washington a clean sixth, but George Springer hit a solo homer off reliever Tanner Rainey in the seventh to cut the margin to 5-3.
Nationals manager Davey Martinez called on closer Daniel Hudson with two on and one out in the seventh, and Hudson got Carlos Correa and Yordan Alvarez to close that threat.
Hudson got two outs in the eighth, but Sean Doolittle was called in to get lefty Michael Brantley to line out to left for out number three.
The UVA alum then went through Alex Bregman, Gurriel and Correa 1-2-3 to close it out.
Story by Chris Graham
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