WASHINGTON,
D.C. - The Washington Nationals invested $ 140 million in Patrick Corbin to
keep them afloat in important games that Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg
could not open. In his first postseason with the capital team, the left-hander
was not close to achieving the goal.
The
Houston Astros scored four runs in six innings against Corbin and Mexican
rookie Jose Urquidy threw five spotless zeros in the 8-1 victory over the
Nationals, Saturday at Nationals Park, in the fourth game of the World Major
League Series of the 2019.
For the
fifth challenge, the last one in the US capital, super stars Gerrit Cole and
Max Scherzer will collide for the second time. In the first, Scherzer and the
Nationals came out graceful, Friday at the Minute Maid Park in Houston.
It is
the 46th occasion when the World Series is tied 2-2. In 30 (66.7%) of
the previous 45, the winner of the fifth game ended up being crowned champion.
But this is just the fifth time that visiting teams have taken all the wins of
at least the first four duels. In
the 1906 and 1996 series the visitor won the first five games, while in 1923
and 1986 the first four.
The
antealista Alex Bregman hit 5-3, including home run with full bases, and towed
five runs to lead the Astros' 13-hit attack. Lance Berkman, in 2005, had
connected the only other home run with congested sacks for Houston in the World
Series. Michael Brantley also
hit 5-3, while Venezuelans Jose Altuve and Robinson Chirinos and Jake Marisnick
added two hits each.
Corbin,
who won 14 games, had a 3.25 ERA and struck out 238 batters in 202.2 innings, a
resounding failure for Washington in the playoffs. The left-hander is effective
at 6.64 (15 clean runs in 20.1 innings) with 19 hits allowed in seven games
(three starts) and has loaded with three of the four Nationals defeats in the
October qualifiers.
“For us,
the World Series begins on Sunday. Now it's a 3-2 playoff and we need to win
two games”, said Dominican gardener Victor Robles, who, like the rest of his
teammates, defended Corbin's performance.
“He
tried, we went out to try. We know he gave one hundred percent tonight and
thanks to him, we are currently playing the World Serie”, said Robles.
Corbin
struck out George Springer with eight pitches starting the game, but as has
been the routine throughout the postseason, he allowed unstoppable Altuve, who
extended his chain of postseason games to 24 reaching base by hit or ticket,
the fifth longest of history.
Brantley,
Bregman (tug of the first) and the Cuban Yuli Guerriel (of the second) hit
consecutive hits to give the American League champions 2-0 lead. Receiver
Chirinos hit for double kill with the bases full, ending Corbin's initial
anguish.
“Today I
could not set the command in the first entry. My pitches were not very accurate”,
said Corbin, who made 96 pitches (59 strikes), gave away two passports and awarded
seven hits in six episodes.
The
Astros have scored 16 of their 60 postseason races in the first inning. Only
the St. Louis Cardinals of 2011 (21) and the Chicago Cubs of 2003 (17) have
scored more runs in the first inning of their postseason games.
Corbin
seemed to have found the rhythm, when Chirinos hit home run after a ticket to
Puerto Rican Carlos Correa in the fourth inning to increase the Astros lead to
4-0. Chirinos is the sixth catcher, and the first since Ted Simmons in
1982, who hits home runs in consecutive World Series games. Now Chirinos has four home runs in the
postseason in his career.
I think it started very fast in the first inning, but then it calmed down and established its zone in the lower part, but then Chirinos caught a change of speed to hit the home run. Dave Martinez, the manager of the Nationals.
A homer
with Bregman's full bases against Dominican reliever Fernando Rodney in the
seventh inning put the game 8-1, but in fact it was already decided when Corbin
lost the duel with Mexican rookie Urquidy.
Urquidy,
who debuted in the majors in July, fanned four and did not grant a ball base to
become the second Mexican rookie to win a World Series match. The legendary
Fernando Valenzuela threw full game against the New York Yankees in the third
clash of the 1981 classic, which the Los Angeles Dodgers won in six matches.
“It was
clear that I had to play a good role today. The defense was on my side. The team was too good, defending,
scoring runs”, said Urquidy. "It means a lot to me to be the second
Mexican to win a game here", he added.
Never
before in the World Series had a team dominated by a margin of 10 or more races
in the first two games and then be overtaken by 10 or more in the next two. Washington
over scored the Astros 17-7 in games 1 and 2 in Houston, but then the Astros
beat the Nationals 12-2 in games 3 and 4 in Washington.
SOURCE: ESPN
