Washington Nationals: In one inning, Houston Astros overpowered

The Houston Astros mistakes contribute to Washington Nationals 12-3 Game two victory. A six-run seventh inning provided the decisive moments.

All the pre-Series data said the Houston Astros. Vegas overwhelmingly said Astros. But the eye test increasingly says Washington Nationals. And after Wednesday’s 12-3 Game 2 victory, the eyes are beginning to have it.

The 2019 World Series flies to Washington Friday for Game 3 with the formerly least probable scenario now in full play: Nats leading 2-0, having beaten Gerrit Cole AND Justin Verlander. Worse, on Friday Washington will send Anibal Sanchez, 1-0 with a 0.70 post-season ERA, out against Zack Greinke, who is 0-2 with a 6.43 post-season ERA.

As for Game 4, the Nats will have Patrick Corbin ready. Houston manager A.J. Hinch may be recruiting volunteers.

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Notwithstanding the final score, Game 2 was a full-throated battle for six innings. The Nats pushed their first two batters across the plate, Houston tied the game in the bottom of the first on Alex Bregman’s two-run homer and then aces Justin Verlander and Stephen Strasburg took turns shutting the other guy out.

That all changed when Verlander left a 93 mph fastball gut-high to Nats catcher Kurt Suzuki. Like most batters, Suzuki has a special passion for gut-high fastballs, and he slammed this one into the Crawford boxes to put his team on top 3-2.

At the time it looked like a possible advantage for the visitors in a taut game. In fact, for the Houston Astros, it became a mishmash of bad breaks, bad pitching, and bad fielding. In other words, it was the beginning of the end.

The next batter, Victor Robles, walked after plate umpire Doug Eddings called a knee-high 2-2 pitch ball three. Verlander complained, and he complained a second time as he left the mound after Hinch replaced him.

Verlander had a legit complaint, but only sort of. The pitch that irked him was in the strike zone and had Eddings called it properly Robles would have struck out. But the record must also note that Verlander’s first pitch to Robles, an outside slider, had been called a strike by Eddings. So the Robles at-bat was actually a case of the breaks evening out.

When Ryan Pressly entered the game in place of Verlander, he walked Trea Turner on four pitches that were not close, then retired Adam Eaton on a sacrifice bunt and Anthony Rendon on a fly ball to short center.

Then, one out away from escaping, the Astros’ world went to collective heck. Pressly intentionally walked Juan Soto to load the bases, then Howie Kendrick slapped a ground ball toward third that Bregman twice failed to pick up. The official scorer termed it a base hit. That was debatable but the run scored by Robles was not. It not only denied the Houston Astros a third out, but it also gave the Washington Nationals a 4-2 lead.

Asdrubal Cabrera was next. Cabrera had covered himself in ignominy most of the night, fanning three times, two of them on wild swings at pitches well out of the strike zone. He atoned with a line single to center scoring Turner and Soto.  That made it 6-2.

Ryan Zimmerman topped a slow roller that Bregman raced in to field. Even against a runner as slow as Zimmerman, Bregman had no play, but he tried to make one and threw the ball wildly past Gurriel at first. Kendrick scored on the hit and Cabrera followed on the throwing error. The score was 8-2.

Asked afterward what happened during that inning, Hinch merely remarked, “where would you like me to start…the inning spiraled out of control.”

Once the Washington Nationals got into Houston’s pen, there was no stopping them. Against that pen, the visitors scored eight runs in three innings.

It will be up to Greinke to turn the momentum when Washington hosts its first World Series game in 86 seasons Friday. He’ll have to do it against a team that is now 10-2 in post-season play. If he can’t, a lot of Vegas experts will be writing substantial checks…soon.