Washington Nationals: Five keys to Game One win

The Washington Nationals beat the Astros because they handled the pressure moments better, Max Scherzer got the key outs, and Juan Soto’s bat came alive.

Key 1: Win the third out. The underdog Washington Nationals also batted a dozen times with two out and also produced just three hits. But those three hits included Ryan Zimmerman’s two-out home run in the second inning and Juan Soto’s 2 RBI double in the fifth. The extra two-out run the Nats cashed turned out to be the difference in the game.

The favored Astros sent a dozen batters to the plate with two out. They got only three hits, and those three produced just two runs, none after the first inning.

Following Yuli Gurriel’s first-inning two-out double that scored George Springer and Jose Altuve, Houston did virtually nothing with two out. And it wasn’t as if Nats starter Max Scherzer didn’t give them opportunities.

More from Call to the Pen

• Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
• Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
• Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
• Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
• 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals

• In the second, Springer took a called third strike with two out and Yordan Alvarez on base.
• In the third, Gurriel’s two-out double failed to score Michael Brantley, who had singled, and Scherzer struck out Carlos Correa to end that threat.
• In the fourth, Altuve managed only a weak grounder with two out and two runners on base.
• In the sixth, Aledmys Diaz grounded out with Alvarez on base.
• Following Springer’s leadoff home run in the seventh, Washington Nationals reliever Tanner Rainey walked two batters. Correa singled with two out, but the lead runner, Brantley, was unable to score. The next batter, Alvarez, fanned.
• Springer’s eighth-inning double drove in Kyle Tucker to bring the Astros within a run at 5-4. But Altuve flew out and then with two out, Brantley also flew out.

Key two: Back an ace with an ace. When the Astros worked Scherzer above 110 pitches in just the first five grueling innings, Nats manager Dave Martinez got creative.

Instead of going to his normal but not necessarily reliable relief cadre, Martinez summoned starter Patrick Corbin to work as a one-inning bridge. Corbin struck out Correa and Martin Maldonado, allowed a base hit to Alvarez, but then set Diaz down on a ground ball.

Key three: Stay in the zone. Astros batters have a reputation for selectivity; they led the majors in fewest strikeouts this season. Tuesday night, however, they were impatient. Of the 27 outs made by Astros batters, a full one-third came on pitches that were not in the strike zone.

The Astros not only fished frequently, but they also fished at some critical moments. Five times Houston batters were retired on pitches outside the strike zone with runners on base, and four of those were strikeouts.

With Brantley and Gurriel in scoring position and two out in the third, Correa ended the inning by fanning at a low-outside Scherzer slider. Then with the bases full and two out in the seventh, Washington Nationals reliever, Daniel Hudson got Alvarez to chase a shoulder-high fastball.

Key 4: Somebody needs to get hot. That somebody turned out to be 20-year-old left fielder Juan Soto. After whiffing against Cole in the first, Soto shortened his approach, went the other way, and deposited a Cole fastball on the Minute Maid Park train tracks to lead off the fourth.

One inning later, with Carlos Robles and Anthony Rendon on base, Soto got a knee-high slider, stayed on it, and drove it into center field for a double. That hit put the Nats on top 5-2.

“He’s really good at staying behind the ball,” Martinez told reporters after the game. Soto added an eighth-inning single, but the Washington Nationals failed to cash that one.

Key 5: Bullpen creativity. Martinez’s plan was to use Tanner Rainey in the seventh inning, leaving Sean Doolittle and Daniel Hudson to handle the eighth and ninth as they usually do. But when Rainey couldn’t get the ball over the plate, Martinez recognized the need to respond to the high-leverage situation his team faced. Needing two quick outs to protect what at the time was a 5-3 lead, he brought in Hudson, his usual closer, and Hudson ended the inning without further damage.

Then when Hudson got in trouble of his own in the eighth, Doolittle was summoned for a four-out save.