Nats blow out Astros and seize control of World Series (updated)

HOUSTON - The late-inning implosion came not from the Nationals but from the Astros. The relievers who gave up six runs in the seventh wore a block H on their caps, not a curly W. The fielders who kicked the ball around the infield to prolong the inning and turn a once-tense ballgame into a rout played for Houston, not Washington.

If you've watched this season from start to finish, you know the narrative that has surrounded the Nationals all along. But if you've watched this postseason at all, surely you know by now that nothing that happened between April and September matters much anymore.

The October Nationals are an entirely different team. They pressure the opposition into making critical mistakes. They get lockdown work from their supposedly inferior bullpen. They make difficult plays in the field look routine.

And because of all that, they're two wins away from a World Series championship.

Yes, the team you spent months expecting to blow it has turned into one of the most impressive postseason juggernauts baseball has seen in some time. With a 12-3 victory tonight, the deciding runs all scoring from the seventh inning on, the Nationals seized control of the World Series from the Astros just as they seized control of the National League Championship Series from the Cardinals two weeks ago.

They're coming home, folks, up two games to none, needing to win two of three this weekend not only to capture Washington's first World Series title in 95 years but to do it on South Capitol Street in front of their own fans.

"It's going to be awesome," Ryan Zimmerman said of the expected scene at Nationals Park for Game 3 on Friday night. "I'm sure they're more excited than we are, honestly. They've been waiting for something like this. Really excited to see what the atmosphere's like. Can't wait to get there."

On the heels of an equally impressive 5-4 victory in Game 1 on Tuesday night, the Nationals made it two in a row over the Astros thanks to a gutsy effort from Stephen Strasburg and then a late-game explosion at the plate against a Houston bullpen and infield that looked like the real Fall Classic novices here instead of the first-time participants in navy blue and gray.

It's the Nationals, though, who have looked and played like seasoned October veterans during this remarkable run, which now includes eight consecutive wins - matching the all-time record for a single postseason - by a combined score of 50-17, five consecutive wins on the road and 18 wins in their last 20 games dating back to their final homestand of the regular season.

"I think we've kind of defied the odds at this point," Anthony Rendon said. "And we don't pay too much attention to them."

It's hard to believe, but tonight's game was in fact tied 2-2 after six innings, Strasburg and Justin Verlander each giving up two quick runs but bearing down to keep the game low-scoring and tied after that.

But then came the top of the seventh, the half-inning that may prove to define this entire series. It began with Verlander still on the mound. It ended with two Astros pitching changes, seven batters reaching base, Houston's first intentional walk of the season, two plays not made by MVP candidate third baseman Alex Bregman, six runs crossing the plate and a whole lot of celebrating in the visitors' dugout.

Kurt Suzuki got the party started with a no-doubt homer off Verlander, breaking the deadlock in emphatic fashion.

"I can't remember the last time I barreled a ball up like that," Suzuki said. "It felt great. It felt like months ago. Probably was months ago."

Five batters later, with reliever Ryan Pressly now on the mound, Astros manager A.J. Hinch elected to intentionally walk 20-year-old stud Juan Soto to load the bases, the first free pass he and his team issued in 2019.

Howie Kendrick, who had already taken advantage of an identical situation in dramatic fashion earlier this month at Dodger Stadium, didn't club a grand slam this time. But he did hit a ground ball to the left side of the infield that Bregman could not handle. Kendrick was awarded with an infield single and an RBI, the Nationals' lead now 4-2.

"Anytime you make contact, it's a good thing," Kendrick said. "Because when you put the ball in play, anything can happen. It's just about putting pressure on the defense. When you've got guys on base, things happen."

They were far from finished making contact with runners on base. Asdrúbal Cabrera, who had three miserable at-bats against Verlander earlier in the evening, ripped a two-run single to center, validating Davey Martinez's decision to use the veteran in the lineup for the second straight night.

They still weren't done. Bregman threw away Zimmerman's slow roller to third, allowing two more runs to score to cap a six-run rally that left the sellout crowd of 43,357 in various states of shock and anger.

"When you've got runners on base, just putting the ball in play puts pressure on the other team," Zimmerman said. "We got a couple lucky bounces tonight, had some swinging bunts and stuff like that. But when you're playing a team like that and pitchers like that, you've got to get those."

And if that still wasn't enough, just for good measure the Nationals tacked on four more runs in the eighth and ninth, getting home runs from Adam Eaton and Michael A. Taylor to send the majority of the crowd home early.

"Regardless of whether you get a hit or not, good things happen when you constantly put the ball in play," Martinez said. "We've gotten better at that. And tonight was a perfect example."

For the second straight night, a pair of big-name right-handers took the mound in what most anticipated would be a great pitching showdown. And for the second straight night, that matchup didn't quite live up to the billing, at least not at the outset.

The Nationals jumped all over Verlander, their first three batters of the game successfully reaching base. Trea Turner drew a four-pitch walk. Eaton, eschewing the bunt to the delight of many, singled to left. And Rendon ripped a double off the scoreboard in left field, both runners coming around to score as a sellout crowd turned remarkably silent.

Thrilled as they were to take such a quick 2-0 lead, the Nats did feel like they missed an opportunity to inflict even more damage on Verlander in that opening frame. With Rendon on second, nobody out and the heart of the lineup batting, the future Hall of Famer was on the ropes. And he picked himself right up and escaped by striking out Soto and Cabrera while getting Kendrick to fly out in between.

Still, a 2-0 lead with Strasburg on the mound had to be a comforting scenario for a Nationals club already feeling good about itself after winning Game 1. Until that lead disappeared four batters into the bottom of the first.

The Astros lineup, so good at forcing pitchers to throw the ball in the zone and exploit mistakes, rapped out three straight hits off Strasburg, beginning with Jose Altuve's double to left. Only Altuve's over aggressiveness on the bases - he was thrown out trying to steal third - kept the inning from turning into a complete nightmare for Strasburg.

Nonetheless, Strasburg didn't get out of the inning with the lead intact. Michael Brantley sent a 3-2 fastball to center for a two-out single. Then Bregman hammered a 2-2 changeup in the zone over the Crawford Boxes in left field for a game-tying homer that brought the briefly dead crowd back to life with authority.

To their credit, both Strasburg and Verlander buckled down after that. Neither right-hander exactly cruised the rest of the way, but both delivered big pitches when they needed to, stranded runners on base and kept the game deadlocked through the sixth.

"Both teams kind of settled down," Zimmerman said. "Both pitchers settled down. And it turned into what everybody thought it was going to be: Stras versus Verlander, and it was really hard to get runs."

It took plenty out of them, though, to do it. Verlander was slightly more efficient, completing the sixth inning with a pitch count of 98. Strasburg had to dig deeper to get the job done, especially during a tense bottom of the sixth in which the Astros put two on with one out (the latter runner via intentional walk).

His pitch count well into triple digits, Strasburg found a way to finish what he started, overcoming Houston's ability to battle through every at-bat and force him to throw everything he had left in the tank. Somehow, Strasburg got Carlos Correa to pop up a 3-2 changeup, then froze pinch-hitter Kyle Tucker with a 3-2 curveball, then darted off the mound having thrown 114 pitches and given his team a chance to win its eighth consecutive postseason game.

"It's just taking it one pitch at a time," the right-hander said of that final sequence. "Don't know how long it was going to be. Didn't know how long the at-bat was going to go. But just trying to break things down to just one pitch."

Strasburg's teammates took care of everything else from there. And now they'll all fly home via jet engines that might not even be necessary given the energy these 25 ballplayers have right now.

"We know the series isn't over," Rendon said. "I think it would have been a success if we only came in and stole one game, obviously, playing at this stage and playing with the crowd and at their home field. For us to steal two games from them at their home field is great. But we still have a job to finish, and we have two more to go."

Two more to ignite the biggest baseball celebration D.C. has experienced since 1924.