7A
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
The Observer
Washington forces Game 7
By Ronald Blum
The Associated Press
HOUSTON — It’s been
an unconventional road to
Game 7 of the World Series
for Stephen Strasburg and
the Washington Nationals.
Seizing the October spot-
light he missed out on as a
youngster, Strasburg pitched
another postseason gem into
the ninth inning Tuesday
night as the Nationals beat
the Houston Astros 7-2 to tie
this Fall Classic at 3-3.
Juan Soto ran all the way
to fi rst base with his bat fol-
lowing a go-ahead homer, the
same way Houston slugger
Alex Bregman did earlier.
Yep, these wild-card
Nationals have matched the
heavily favored Astros swing
for swing, hit for hit — even
home run celebration for
home run celebration.
Now, it’s onto a winner-
take-all Game 7 on Wednes-
day night to decide the only
Series in which the visiting
team won the fi rst six.
“It’s weird, really. You can’t
explain it,” Washington man-
ager Dave Martinez said.
Adam Eaton and Soto
hit solo homers off Justin
Verlander in the fi fth to help
the Nationals overcome a 2-1
defi cit. Anthony Rendon also
went deep and drove in fi ve
runs.
“Maybe they enjoy our
park and maybe we enjoy
their park,” said Rendon,
who attended high school
4½ miles from Minute Maid
Park. “We’re not going to ask
questions.”
Max Scherzer, revitalized
by an injection of painkiller,
is primed to return from an
irritated nerve in his neck to
start Game 7 for Washington
in a Series that’s been all
road, sweet, road.
Scratched from his
scheduled Game 5 start only
hours before the fi rst pitch,
Scherzer was warming up in
the seventh inning Tuesday
before Rendon’s homer,
then sat down as Martinez
became the fi rst manager
tossed from a Series game
since Atlanta’s Bobby Cox in
1996.
“The cortisone shot
worked. That relieved the
pressure on the nerve, and
then keep applying heat,”
Scherzer said. “Our chiro-
practor, he does amazing
work. He was able to go
in there and make adjust-
ments. We did two treat-
ments of it and really freed
up the neck.”
Zack Greinke will start
for the Astros, who led the
majors with 107 wins and
are seeking their second title
in three seasons.
“I wish it was in a Na-
tional League park,” Greinke
joked, cracking a smile about
his affi nity for hitting.
Fired up after a dis-
puted call at fi rst base went
against them in the seventh,
the Nationals padded their
lead moments later when
Rendon hit a two-run homer
off Will Harris. Martinez,
still enraged at umpires, was
ejected during the seventh-
inning stretch, screaming
as a pair of his coaches held
him back while the crowd
sang along to “Deep in the
Heart of Texas.”
Rendon added a two-run
double off Chris Devenski in
the ninth to just about seal
it after Strasburg gutted
through without his best
fastball to throw fi ve-hit ball
for 8-1/3 innings. Washington
pitching coach Paul Menhart
Matt Slocum/The Associated Press
Washington Nationals starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg reacts after Houston Astros’ Michael Brantley grounded
out to end the fi fth inning of Game 6 of the baseball World Series on Tuesday in Houston.
told Strasburg after the fi rst
that he was tipping pitches.
Strasburg allowed only three
more hits.
“Started shaking my glove,
so they didn’t know what I
was throwing,” Strasburg
said. “It’s something that has
burned me in the past, and it
burned me there in the fi rst.”
Now the Nationals will
attempt their ultimate come-
back in a year when they
were written off time after
time, hoping for the fi rst title
in the 51-season history of a
franchise that started as the
Montreal Expos and the fi rst
for Washington since the
Senators in 1924.
Visiting teams have won
three straight Game 7s in
the Series since the Cardi-
nals defeated Texas at home
in 2011.
“I don’t think there’s a
person in the building that
would have assumed that
all road teams were going to
win,” Houston manager AJ
Hinch said. “We’ve just got
to make sure that last one is
not the same.”
Washington rebounded
from a 19-31 start — the
Nats were given just a 1.6%
chance to win the Series
on May 23 — to fi nish
93-69. They rallied from a
3-1 eighth-inning defi cit
against Milwaukee in the
NL wild-card game, a two-
games-to-one defi cit vs. the
Los Angeles Dodgers in the
Division Series and a 2-1,
fi fth-inning defi cit in Game 6
vs. the Astros.
Outscored 19-3 at Nation-
als Park while going 1 for 21
with runners in scoring posi-
tion, the Nationals got the
strong outing they needed
from Strasburg, who allowed
his only runs in the fi rst
inning, struck out seven and
walked two while throwing
104 pitches.
“It was a mental grind out
there, especially after the
fi rst,” Strasburg said. “Just
got to keep fi ghting.”
Strasburg was memorably
shut down by the Nation-
als in September 2012 to
protect his arm in his fi rst
full season following Tommy
John surgery, and Washing-
ton was beaten by St. Louis
in the Division Series.
He improved to 5-0 with a
1.98 ERA in six postseason
outings this October — fi ve
starts and one relief appear-
ance — despite failing to get
a swing and miss in the fi rst
two innings for the fi rst time
this year. Eight of his nine
swings and misses overall
came on breaking balls, and
Strasburg escaped a two-on,
two-out jam in the fourth by
striking out Carlos Correa.
After George Springer’s
one-out double put runners
at second and third in the
fi fth, José Altuve struck out
on a curve in the dirt and
Michael Brantley hit a hard
grounder to second.
“He has an uncanny abil-
ity to slow the game down
when he’s under any duress,”
Hinch said about Strasburg.
Sean Doolittle got the fi nal
two outs as the Nationals
bullpen headed into Game 7
relatively rested.
Verlander dropped to 0-6
with a 5.68 ERA in seven
Series starts, a blemish on
his otherwise sterling career.
“I didn’t really have great
feel for the off-speed stuff,”
he said. “The last inning just
FOOTBALL
CONTEST
WINNERS!
Week 8
1 st - LYLE JENSEN,
LA GRANDE (2 misses, Closest tiebreaker)
2 - TERESA ENGLISH,
ISLAND CITY (2 misses, 2nd closest)
ND
3 RD - RICH VAUGHAN,
ISLAND CITY (2 misses, 3rd closest)
Congratulations! From The Observer.
a poorly executed slider and
then really just kind of a
fastball up and in.”
Martinez’s ejection came
after Trea Turner was called
out for interference when
he ran on the fair side of
the foul line and knocked
the mitt off fi rst baseman
Yuli Gurriel in the seventh
following his slow roller.
Washington was leading 3-2
at the time and would have
had runners on second and
third with no outs.
Martinez tried to protest
the game. Joe Torre, MLB’s
chief baseball offi cer, said the
long delay that followed —
just over 10 minutes — was
caused by umpires at Minute
Maid Park consulting with
the replay room in New York
to confi rm the decision on
the fi eld was not subject to a
protest.
LOCAL SCHEDULE
Friday
COLLEGE
VOLLEYBALL
• Southern Oregon at
Eastern Oregon, 7 p.m.
MEN’S COLLEGE
BASKETBALL
• Eastern Oregon at
Montana Tech, 6 p.m.
PREP FOOTBALL
Special District 3
Football playoffs
at Eastern Oregon
University
• Powder Valley vs.
Enterprise, 10 a.m.
• Crane vs. Union,
1 p.m.
• Elgin vs. Dufur, 4 p.m.
• Adrian/Jordan
Valley vs. Pilot Rock/
Nixyaawii, 7:30 p.m.
PREP CROSS
COUNTRY
• La Grande at Greater
Oregon League district
meet, Baker City, 1 p.m.
• Union/Cove, Elgin at
2A/1A Boys Special
District 3 meet,
Pendleton, 3 p.m.
• Union/Cove, Elgin,
Wallowa County
at 3A/2A/1A Girls
Special District 3 meet,
Pendleton, 3:30 p.m.
• Wallowa County at 3A
Boys Special District 3
meet, Pendleton,
4:15 p.m.
PREP SOCCER
Madras at La Grande,
Class 4A state play-
in, La Grande Middle
School, 2 p.m.
— Subject to change
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