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SPORTS Thursday 17 OcTOber 2019
Nats sweep Cards; DC in World Series for 1st time since '33

By HOWARD FENDRICH ball to center field to end it,
AP Sports Writer and red fireworks went off
WASHINGTON (AP) — As around the stadium.
the Washington Nationals Corbin got this evening
moved a party 86 years in started with a 1-2-3 top of
the making from their ball- the first, striking out all three
park's infield to a booze- Cardinals with a high, 95
filled clubhouse, manager mph fastball, a real con-
Dave Martinez paused trast to the off-speed stuff
near the dugout and thrust Stephen Strasburg used for
the silver NL Championship his own dozen Ks a night
Series trophy overhead, to earlier.
the delight of loud, delirious In the bottom half, Wash-
fans still in the stands. ington put up those seven
Who would have thought runs, all charged to rookie
this was possible five months Dakota Hudson, who last-
ago, when the team was ed all of 15 pitches — doing
flailing, trade talk was swirl- to the Cardinals what they
ing around Washington did in the previous round,
and folks figured Martinez's when they scored 10 to
job was in jeopardy? open Game 5 of the NLDS
From 19-31 during a medio- against Atlanta.
cre May to the Fall Classic All the heartache of play-
in an outstanding October offs past seemed to dis-
— and the city's first World sipate during an evening
Series appearance since that only briefly was tense
1933. The Washington Nationals celebrate after Game 4 of the baseball National League Championship for the home team and its
Extending their stunning Series Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019, in Washington. The Nationals won 7-4 to win the series 4-0. supporters: In the fifth, a
turnaround, the wild-card Associated Press juggled Cardinals lineup fi-
Nationals got RBIs from nally awoke, scoring three
middle-of-the-order stars set up their so-far terrific founded in 1969 and never million of the money that runs — one more than the
Anthony Rendon and Juan rotation before beginning made it to the World Series became available last off- team managed to pro-
Soto in a seven-run first in- the last series of the season — moved to Washington in season when Bryce Harper duce in Games 1-3 com-
ning Tuesday night, and against the Houston Astros 2005. left town to join the Phila- bined — to get within 7-4.
Patrick Corbin's 12-strikeout or New York Yankees in a The Nationals had never delphia Phillies, was not With a man on second
performance plus a trio of week. Houston leads the managed to advance in quite the equal of Wash- and the tying run in the on-
relievers helped hold on to best-of-seven AL Champi- the postseason since arriv- ington's other starters in the deck circle, Corbin came
beat the St. Louis Cardinals onship Series 2-1 after win- ing, going 0-4 in the NLDS series. through, striking out St.
7-4 in Game 4 to complete ning Game 3 at New York over the last seven years, Still, he did become the first Louis' 3-4 hitters, Paul Gold-
a sweep in the NLCS. 4-1 Tuesday. including three Game 5 pitcher to strike out 10 bat- schmidt and Marcell Ozu-
"Often, bumpy roads lead The Nationals became the losses at home. ters in the first four innings na, with sliders.
to beautiful places," said fourth team to reach the First baseman Ryan Zim- of a postseason game and After becoming comeback
Martinez, who underwent World Series after being 12 merman, the Nationals' first earned the win after allow- specialists, the Nationals
a heart procedure in Sep- games under .500. draft pick in Washington, ing four runs in five innings. never trailed against the
tember, "and this is a beau- "We think we can compete was there for all of that Then Martinez turned to his Cardinals. And dating to
tiful place." with any team, any time," heartache. NL-worst bullpen, such a the final week of the regu-
Right from the first inning NLCS MVP Howie Kendrick "Sometimes," he said, "you problem for so much of this lar season, Washington has
Tuesday, most in a sellout said. "People always get got to wait for good things." season. won 16 of its past 18 games.
crowd of 43,976 rose from caught up in the things that This month alone, the Na- After Rainey got three outs, "We proved — and this
their seats to applaud or are on paper, but the real- tionals beat the Milwau- and Doolittle got five, Hud- doesn't require advanced
yell or twirl their red towels, ity of it is you have to go out kee Brewers in the NL wild- son came in for his fourth sabermetrics," Cardinals
to chant "Let's go, Nats!" and play. Once we get out card game after trailing save in four chances this manager Mike Shildt said,
and "M-V-P!" and various on the field, anything can 3-1 heading to the eighth, postseason. It wasn't easy, "you have to get a lead to
players' names, enjoy- happen." and eliminated the league- though: After replacing win a game."
ing every moment of that The last time the World Se- best Los Angeles Dodg- Doolittle with two outs in UP NEXT
game-deciding outburst. ries came to the nation's ers in Game 5 of the NL the eighth, Hudson hit his Cardinals: Their next game
And then, a couple of hours capital, more than eight Division Series after trailing first batter and walked his will come in spring training,
and several innings later, as decades ago, the Wash- 3-1 heading to the eighth second, bringing pinch-hit- an exhibition at home in Ju-
Tanner Rainey, Sean Doo- ington Senators lost to the again. ter Matt Carpenter to the piter, Florida, on Feb. 22.
little and Daniel Hudson New York Giants in five Then came this lopsided plate as the go-ahead run Nationals: They will play
were protecting a shrinking games. Have to go even dismissal of the NL Central with the bases loaded. Games 1 and 2 of the World
lead, those same specta- further back, to 1924, for champion Cardinals, who Carpenter, a career .481 Series at the AL team's sta-
tors stood and shouted and the city's lone baseball were outscored 20-6 in the batter with the bases full, dium, because both the
reveled some more. championship, when the series. grounded out to second Astros (107) and Yankees
"I just kept counting down: Senators defeated the Gi- "Of course, we could've baseman Brian Dozier, a (103) won more games
We're 12 outs from the ants. played better," said St. Lou- defensive replacement than Washington's 93 in the
World Series. We're nine The Senators eventually is first baseman Paul Gold- who briefly lost the ball be- regular season. Games 3, 4
outs from the World Series," left, and the town didn't schmidt, who was 1 for 16 fore gathering it and throw- and, if necessary, 5 will be
shortstop Trea Turner said. have a major league team with nine strikeouts in the ing to first to end that in- at Nationals Park. Wash-
"Six. Three." at all for more than three NLCS, "but we didn't." ning. Hudson finished things ington did not face either
Now the Nationals get decades until the Mon- Corbin, a left-handed with a perfect ninth, get- Houston or the Yankees in
plenty of time to rest and treal Expos — who were pitcher signed with $140 ting Tommy Edman on a fly interleague play in 2019.q