The Washington Nationals are certainly hot at the right time. Washington beat the Houston Astros 5-4 in Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday night, for their seventh straight win.
It was as good as pitching matchups get, with Max Scherzer vs Gerrit Cole. But neither ace was particularly sharp; Scherzer gave up two earned runs over five innings (while throwing 112 pitches), and Cole gave up five earned runs over seven innings.
But the story of the game was Juan Soto. The 20-year-old phenom put his ridiculous hitting skills on display in this one, with a single, double, and opposite field homer off Cole that landed on the train tracks at Minute Maid Park.
The homer was an unbelievable piece of hitting, but so was the opposite field two-run double Soto smoked off the wall.
It appeared that George Springer may have tied the game for Houston in the bottom of the eighth (after hitting a solo homer in the seventh), but this flyball to right-center field stayed in the yard and he had to settle for an RBI double.
This definitely won’t stop the speculation that the ball has been de-juiced in the postseason.
https://twitter.com/DevanFink/status/1186849105357803520
A very entertaining Game 1 is followed by what should be another great one on Wednesday, with Stephen Strasburg taking on Justin Verlander in Game 2. While the Astros won’t panic considering their remarakable talent level, they certainly don’t want to fall behind 2-0 in the series before heading to Washington DC.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.