Washington Nationals force a seventh game in 2019 World Series

Anthony Rendon (Keith Allison, Wikimedia Commons)

There will be a seventh game in the 2019 World Series. On Tuesday, the Washington Nationals beat the Houston Astros 7-2 in game six from Minute Maid Park in Houston.

In the Nationals’ five run win, three Nationals players hit home runs. Adam Eaton and Juan Soto each hit solo blasts in the fifth inning off of Astros great Justin Verlander, while Anthony Rendon hit a key two-run home run in the seventh inning off of Astros reliever Will Harris. There was a sense that the Astros had enough offense to come back in the baseball game when they were only down 3-2, but when Rendon hit his home run, it gave the Nationals a lot more momentum and a 5-2 lead.

Rendon had five runs batted in. In addition to the two run home run, he had a RBI single in the first inning which scored Trea Turner and gave the Nationals a narrow 1-0 lead and then a two-run double in the ninth inning which scored Eaton and Turner to close out the scoring.

On the mound, Stephen Strasburg was masterful as he pitched eight and a third innings and only gave up two earned runs against an Astros team that had scored a combined total of 15 runs over the last two games. In 104 pitches, he had seven strikeouts compared to only two walks.

Traditional baseball fans will be glad to see the opener is not being used by either team for the seventh and deciding game of the season on Wednesday. However there is no doubt that Astros manager A.J. Hinch will not be too patient with Zack Greinke and that Nationals manager Dave Martinez will not be too patient with Max Scherzer.