Stephen Strasburg pitched out of a two-on, one-out jam in the sixth to keep Game 2 of the World Series tied at 2-2.
Kurt Suzuki led off the seventh with a solo shot off Astros ace Justin Verlander, and that spark ended with a 12-3 Nats win that puts Washington up 2-0 heading back to DC for Game 3 on Friday.
The Suzuki homer was the first blow in a six-run Nationals seventh, five of the runs coming with two outs, on an infield single by Howie Kendrick, a two-run single by Asdrubal Cabrera, then an RBI infield single by Ryan Zimmerman that ended up plating two when Cabrera scored on a throwing error by Houston third baseman Alex Bregman.
To borrow from the movie “Anchorman,” that escalated quickly on a night that was tight up until that point.
Washington got to Verlander early, with a leadoff walk to Trea Turner and a single by Adam Eaton preceding a two-run double off the bat of Anthony Rendon that made it 2-0 Nats after a half-inning.
Houston got the runs back in the bottom half of the first, on a Bregman two-run homer into the night off Strasburg, who needed 19 pitches to get out of the first.
Strasburg gutted his way through six innings, only getting a single 1-2-3 inning, in the second.
His pitch count was at 86 heading into the sixth, when Yuli Gurriel doubled with one out. Yordan Alvarez, 3-for-5 in the World Series to this point, was intentionally walked, ahead of Carlos Correa.
Strasburg induced a popup to short-center on a 3-2 pitch for out number two, then battled pinch-hitter Kyle Tucker, who struck out looking at the end of a tense eight-pitch at bat that included a pair of two-strike foul balls.
Strasburg, at this point, was clearly done, having thrown 114 pitches, putting the Nationals in the position of needing to get three innings from the bullpen in a tight game, a night after manager Davey Martinez had wrung four innings of mostly effective relief from the ‘pen in the 5-4 win in Game 1.
The Suzuki homer offered some breathing room before the floodgates opened, and the ‘pen would close things out with three innings of one-run, two-hit baseball, and with Martinez not having to use any of his top back-end guys to close things out.
The series gets an off-day on Thursday as the teams travel from Houston to DC for Game 3 on Friday.
Washington will send Anibal Sanchez (11-8, 3.85 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 7.3K/9) to the mound to face Houston’s Zack Greinke (18-5, 2.93 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, 8.1K/9).
Story by Chris Graham
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