What was supposed to be a pitchers’ duel between Stephen Strasburg and Justin Verlander quickly turned into a blowout on Wednesday (Oct. 23) after a wild six-run seventh inning led the Nationals to a 12-3 victory over the Astros and a comfortable 2-0 series lead.
The floodgates opened after a tie-breaking homer off Verlander by Kurt Suzuki. “I can’t remember the last time I barreled a ball up like that,” Suzuki said after the game. “It felt great. It felt like months ago — probably was months ago. It felt great.”
Verlander, who in addition to suffering the loss had an especially awkward-looking play in the fourth inning in which he threw the ball into his own shin, fell to 0-5 in six World Series starts.
Justin Verlander tried to make a play while falling down and ended up throwing the ball into his own leg 😂 pic.twitter.com/skNCND0NTE
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 24, 2019
“I was wondering why my shin is sore,” Verlander told USA Today after the game. “Seriously. I was putting my pants on and thought, ‘Man, it’s sore right there.’ I forgot the ball went off it. Damn, everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.”
Despite the comedy of errors, the Astros are determined to keep fighting. “Clearly, the Nats have outplayed us, bottom line,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “They came into our building and played two really good games. We’re going to have to try to sleep off the latter third of this game. They’re halfway to a race to four wins. Clearly, Game 3 becomes critical for us. I doubt the Nats are going to feel too confident that they have this sewed up and they can start planning the parade. We’re going to give them a fight for it.”
The Astros and Nationals will play Game 3 on Friday (Oct. 25) when Anibal Sanchez takes on Zack Greinke.
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