Martinez confirms Corbin will start Game 4

Nationals manager Davey Martinez confirmed this afternoon that left-hander Patrick Corbin will start Game 4 of the World Series against the Astros on Saturday night.

Corbin appeared in Game 1 as a reliever, allowing one hit and striking out two during a scoreless sixth inning in the Nats' 5-4 victory at Minute Maid Park.

Now he gets his shot at his first World Series start and his third start of the postseason. Corbin is 1-2 with a 6.91 ERA, due in large part to one bad inning in relief against the Dodgers. But as a starter, he has gone 1-1 with a 4.09 ERA over 11 innings with 21 strikeouts in the postseason.

Martinez said that right-hander Aníbal Sánchez, who gets the start in Game 3 on Friday night, has been a very important starter to have because his presence on the roster allowed him to use Corbin as a reliever in the postseason.

"It's been huge," Martinez said. "And like I said, everybody talks about our big three, but Aníbal has pitched unbelievable since he came off the injured list all year long. He gives us a chance to win ballgames every outing.

"Game 3, to me, it wasn't a hard decision for me to say that (Sánchez) going to be our Game 3 starter. As we all know, he pitched Game 1 (of the National League Championship Series) for us and came up huge. He's up to it. He's got great command of all his pitches, which is a lot. Hopefully, he goes out and keeps us in the ballgame and we have a chance to win again."

Martinez noticed that Sánchez was a bit different in his determination and focus once he returned from a hamstring injury during the season.

"We talked a lot about his mechanics, staying in his legs a little bit, being more exact, more conviction with his pitches and staying down in the zone," Martinez said. "But more using his legs a little bit better. And he's been really good. And I think it's actually helped him. Because he's had some hamstring issues, as we all know, and it's kind of helped his hamstring a little bit."

Sánchez said facing the Astros in Game 3 after seeing them live for two games is not necessarily an advantage.

"For me, always baseball is really hard especially (even if) you spend three days watching this guy," Sanchez said. "I think I spend like a month watching like everybody on the playoff situation to see who is going to be the matchup.

"It's not about a specific day. Tomorrow is another day. Everything is going to be different: weather, field, many games, end of October pressure, exciting. All those situations, it's really hard to control every single day, but tomorrow it's going to be my day. I just prepared ... (to) focus and try to execute every pitch to give a good game for the team."

Max Scherzer went through a full bullpen session during Thursday's workout at Nationals Park. Sánchez also threw a bullpen session. Relivers Daniel Hudson and Sean Doolittle were also seen throwing at Thursday's voluntary workout session.

* President Donald Trump said today he would attend World Series Game 5 at Nats Park Sunday night if the game is necessary. He will not throw out the ceremonial first pitch.