*Photo from Sports Illustrated*
Washington leads series 3-0
Can anyone beat the Washington Nationals right now? Howie Kendrick stayed hot, Stephen Strasburg dominated again, and the Nationals beat the St.Louis Cardinals 8-1 to take a 3-0 stranglehold in the NLCS. The Nats are now one win away from the world series, and when asked how that felt, Sean Doolittle said that ''It's a little surreal, and I think that's why it's important that we don't look too far ahead.''
The Nats jumped on the Cardinals in the 3rd inning, when Adam Eaton singled Victor Robles home to make it 1-0 Nats. Anthony Rendon then hit a fly ball that Marcell Ozuna dropped, which scored Eaton and made it 2-0. Kendrick then whacked a two run double to center field to make it 4-0. In the 5th, Kendrick and Ryan Zimmerman each had RBI doubles to make it 6-0. In the 6th, Victor Robles hit a solo homer, and Zimmerman hit an RBI single in the 7th to cap off the scoring. St.Louis got their run on a throwing error from Juan Soto in the 7th.
Strasburg went 7 dominating innings, giving up one unnearned run on 7 hits. He struck out 12 hitters to get his 3rd win of the playoffs. While Anibal Sanchez and Max Scherzer almost had no hitters, Strasburg wasn't as good as them, giving up 7 hits, but he was still dominant. Since Strasburg's run was unearned, Washington starters in the NLCS have a combined ERA of 0.00. Yes, you read that right. Before this year, the Nats hadn't won a playoff series in franchise history, and seemingly are making up for failures past. Rendon said that ''Shoot, maybe we're finally coming around." The Nats have won 5 straight games, not losing since game 3 to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Starter Jack Flaherty lasted just 4 innings, giving up 4 runs on 5 hits and two walks. He struck out 6 and fell to 1-2 in the postseason. The offense hasn't helped St.Louis either, scoring just two runs all series. Kolten Wong, who is 0-10 this series, said that ''We expected better." Manager Mike Shildt said that ''We've got to get a lead at some point in this series. Hard to win a game if you can't get a lead, we've got to figure out a way to create some offense early in the game and be able to hold it there.''
The Cardinals will try to avoid being swept out of the NLCS on Tuesday night in game 4. They will send Dakota Hudson to the mound to try and keep their playoff hopes alive. The Nationals start Patrick Corbin, who is 0-2 this postseason, and will try to secure a Nationals sweep for the NL pennant.
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