Down by two runs in the eighth inning with two outs on the board, 20-year-old Juan Soto delivered for the Washingon Nationals in the NL wild-card game Tuesday night.
The second-year player stepped to the plate against Milwaukee closer Josh Hader and hit a bases-loaded single that scored three runs and put Washington up 4-3 over the Brewers, a lead they would not relinquish.
Soto made solid contact with the ball, but he likely would not have given Washington the lead had it not been for an error by rookie outfielder Trent Grisham.
“I came in off-balance. It kinda took a little bit of a funky hop on me,” Grisham said afterward. “I didn’t really gather myself. The ball got by me and just went back there and tried to get it in as quickly as I could.”
It was a bad turn for a team that had played well for the majority of the game with journeyman starter Brandon Woodruff outpitching three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer prior to reliever Brent Suter tossing three scoreless innings. Drew Pomeranz gave way to Hader to start the eighth in what seemed to be an ideal turn of events for the Brew Crew.
“We couldn’t have drawn it up any better,” manager Craig Counsell said later. “It went the way we wanted.”
But, Washington did not relent and the Nationals now carry a nine-game winning streak into their best-of-five NL Division Series against the league-best Los Angeles Dodgers.
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