October 15, 2019 – Nats 7, Cards 4 (NLCS Game 4) – Nationals Park

https://www.mlb.com/nationals/news/nationals-win-2019-national-league-pennant

 

Weather: 64 degrees, Clear.

Wind: 5 mph, Out To LF.

Umpires: HP--Cuzzi, 1B--Fairchild, 2B--Culbreth, 3B--Guccione, LF--Conroy, RF--Miller.

Time: 3:02

Attendance: 43,976

 

Sweep dreams! The Nationals win the pennant! The Nationals win the pennant!! The Nationals win the pennant!!!

 

Tuesday night’s triumph can best be seen as a two-act play, with three major scenes.

 

Act One, which consisted of a single scene (the first inning), couldn’t have gone any better for the Nats. Starter Patrick Corbin struck out the side, on his way to becoming the first postseason pitcher to record at least 10 Ks by the end of the 4^th. The home team then proceeded to quickly ambush the ill-fated St. Louis starting pitcher, Dakota Hudson:

 

Pitch #3 – Turner single

Pitch #4 – Eaton double

Pitch #5 – Rendon sac fly, scoring Turner

Pitch #7 – Soto double, scoring Eaton

Intentional walk to Kendrick

Pitch #9 – Ground ball by Zimmerman, with second baseman Kolten Wong dropping the throw to load the bases

Pitch #14 – Catchable pop by Robles that was chased by three Cardinals and dropped in front of the defensively-challenged Jose Martinez, scoring run #3 and leaving the bases loaded

Pitch #15 – Two-run single by Robles for a 5-0 lead

 

Exit Hudson (stage left). Enter long-time St. Lous stalwart Adam Wainwright, who had played the lead role of starting pitcher the previous Saturday. Corbin laid down a sacrifice on Wainwright’s second pitch, sending the runners to second and third, and Turner singled them both home on the next offering.

 

The second act of the evening, which ran much longer, began immediately thereafter, following only a brief intermission. Would our home-team heroes be able to extend their lead, or would they let it dwindle?

 

The cast of characters in blue, so dominant in Act One, might as well have turned their bats into wet noodles for the remainder of the affair. Only four of them got on base against the St. Louis bullpen, with none advancing past first.

 

Meanwhile, Corbin dominated the Cardinals for the next three innings, although he did give up a seemingly-harmless homer to Yadier Molina in the 4^th. This led to the night’s second major scene, the top of the 5^th inning.

 

Corbin suddenly had trouble finding home plate, walking two batters with a Kolten Wong single in between. A soft grounder allowed the Cards to score their second run, and a ringing Martinez double produced two more. All of a sudden the score was 7-4, with an air of apprehension filling the sold-out audience. Nats manager Davey Martinez surprised many of us by keeping Corbin in the game, and he rallied to fan his final two batters.

 

Things calmed down for a bit, with Tanner Rainey retiring the visitors in order in the 6^th and a well-rested Sean Doolittle repeating the feat an inning later. This led to the climax of the affair.

 

Doolittle retired the first two St. Louis batters in the top of the 8^th, then gave up a single to Marcell Ozuna. The equally well-rested Daniel Hudson (no relation to Dakota) entered to (hopefully) close things out; he proceeded to hit Molina with his fourth pitch, then walk Paul DeJong to load the bases. St. Louis then played one of their high cards, bringing in dangerous left-handed power hitter Matt Carpenter to face the right-handed Hudson. A single would cut the lead to one, a round-tripper would actually put the visitors ahead. As the script unfolded, however, Carpenter hit a harmless ground ball for the final out of the inning, and 40,000 of us resumed breathing.

 

The final inning seemed preordained. Hudson retired the side in order, giving the Nats their first-ever NL pennant. The stagehands and actors took their bows, and everyone lived happily ever after (or at least until the World Series).