The Washington Nationals only need two more wins to win their first World Series in franchise history. On Wednesday, the Nationals trounced the Houston Astros 12-3 to take a 2-0 lead in the best out of seven series.
The Nationals were able to hit the baseball with frequency and confidence in game two at Houston’s Minute Maid Park. They were simply not fazed by the fact that Justin Verlander was on he mound, as they collected 14 hits in nine innings. Of those 14 hits, seven hits came off Verlander.
Early in the game, Verlander continued not only his World Series woes (now 0-5 in his career), but first-inning woes as well. He gave up a key two-run double to Nationals third baseman Anthony Rendon and put Washington up 2-0 even before the Astros came to bat. Verlander’s first-inning postseason earned run average is now a lousy 16.20.
Houston got those two runs back in the bottom of the first inning thanks to an Alex Bregman two-run home run which tied the game at two runs apiece. From there the next five innings were without a run, and it seemed like it was going to be a dramatic tight finish like we saw in game one.
Then the Nationals came away with a massive six-run seventh inning. It began with a Kurt Suzuki home run off Verlander, who left the game after he gave up a walk to Victor Robles. Astros reliever Ryan Pressly came into the seventh inning and struggled as he pitched to seven batters and gave up three singles, two walks and a wild pitch. All of a sudden a 2-2 game became 8-2 as the Nationals brought 10 players to the plate in the seventh inning alone.
The Nationals continued their prolific offense in the last two innings with home runs by Adam Eaton and Michael A. Taylor, who came into play center field for Robles.
The Astros were not expected to be in this position. Now they will have to win two of three games at National Park in Washington over the weekend just to bring the World Series back to Houston. Game three goes Friday night.
