The Washington Nationals beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7 × 4 and qualified for the World Series of baseball for the first time in their history.
With an acceptable pitching from starter Patrick Corbin (1-0), who allowed four hits with four runs, but with a whopping 12 strikeouts delivered, the Nationals, who advanced as wild cards by beating the Milwaukee Brewers, got for the first time move on from the first round of the playoffs.
Corbin had offensive backing from Brazilian Yan Gomes and Trea Turner, both with two RBIs each.
The MVP (Most Valuable Player) of the league championship was veteran Howie Kendrick, who finished with a .333 average.
For their part, the Cardinals, the team with the most World Series after the Yankees (27) with 11, were swept after having won the Central Division of the National League.
The setback went to starter Dakota Hudston (0-1), who just completed one inning as he was scored seven runs in the first inning.
Now the Nationals await the winner of the American League between the Houston Astros and the New York Yankees, which favors the first 2-1.
The Nationals, if they won the World Series, would become the sixth team to reach the playoffs as a wild card and take the crown (one team did it twice) alongside the Marlins (1997 and 2003), Angels (2002), Red Sox (2004), Cardinals (2011) and Giants (2014).
The team, which in the month of May had a negative balance of 19-31, raised a lot to sneak into the Fall Classic.
Now the Nationals have plenty of time to rest and establish their rotation before starting the World Series next Tuesday, in Houston or New York.
– Nats wasted no time –
The Nationals looked like they wanted to settle the cap all at once when in the very first inning they toppled starter Hudson by scoring seven runs on him.
Shortstop Trea Turner opened with a hit, Adam Eaton followed with a double and the first scored on a sacrifice fly by Anthony Rendón. Immediately afterwards, Juan Soto continued with an RBI double, veteran Kendrick received an intentional walk and Ryan Zimmermann drove another on a ground ball for a selection play and Víctor Robles and Brazilian Yan Gomes drove in with consecutive hits.
Turner turned on the drums and with another single he drove in Robles and Gomes with the sixth and seventh of the inning.
The game stayed like that until the fourth act when Puerto Rican Yadier Molina pulled her out of the park to deduct one for the Cardinals.
In the fifth, the Cardinals attacked again and with three runs they approached 7 × 4, thanks to walks to Harrison Bader and Dexter Flowler, an interleaved single by Kolten Wong and an RBI double of two by Venezuelan José ‘Cafecito’ Martínez.
The Cardinals loaded the bases later in the eighth on Marcell Ozuna’s hit, wildpitch to Molina and also walked Paul DeJong with two outs, but reliever Daniel Hudson grounded Matt Carpenter for the infield.
Closer Daniel Hudson then plugged the ninth at 1-2-3 by dominating Wong, Matt Wietiers and Tommy Edman.
The last time the World Series reached the nation’s capital was in 1933, when the then-Washington Senators lost to the New York Giants in five games.
Now they arrive but like the Nationals, who arrived in Washington in 2005 after leaving Montreal (Canada).
The only baseball championship for the city was in 1924, when the Senators defeated the Giants. AFP