HOUSTON _ For the last five months, the Washington Nationals, baseball's greatest underachievers at their nadir in late May, thrived when left for dead. They roared back from 12 games under .500 to claim a postseason berth. They won the National League Wild Card game on a fluky late-inning hit and error. They stunned the 106-win Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS and they plowed through the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS.
But those conquests did not compare to the stakes presented Wednesday night at Minute Maid Park. They were nine outs from losing Game 7 of the World Series. The Houston Astros, the 107-win machine pushed to the brink, held a two-run lead. The deficit felt insurmountable with Zack Greinke on the mound and the weapons at the Astros' disposal behind him. He was dealing. For the first six innings, the Nationals did not stand a chance.
But the Nationals, a group seasoned in anxiety, did not wither. Anthony Rendon, the Houston native wreaking havoc back home, homered off Greinke to draw blood. Juan Soto, the 21-year-old wunderkind, shuffled and grabbed his junk in the batter's box until Greinke issued him a walk. The free pass prompted manager A.J. Hinch to replace him with Will Harris, and initiate the next step in the Astros' demise.
Two pitches later, Howie Kendrick, the man who ended the Dodgers' season with a grand slam before being named NLCS MVP, slashed a two-run home run off the screen attached to the foul pole down the right-field line, under a Chick-fil-A advertisement to complete the Nationals' final, and greatest, comeback en route to a 6-2 victory and the first World Series title in franchise history.
The Astros were denied their second championship in three years as the road team won each of the seven games of a series for the first time in baseball history. The Nationals, the oldest team in baseball, concluded the postseason 5-0 in elimination games.
Fittingly for a clash between premier starting rotations, two of the best pitchers of the decade closed out the 2010s on the mound Wednesday. Max Scherzer, 35, posted the second-highest fWAR _ FanGraphs' version of Wins Above Replacement _ from 2010 through 2019. Greinke, 36, finished fifth. Scherzer was a seven-time All-Star during the decade. Greinke was selected five times. They were the first Cy Young Award winners to ever square off in a World Series Game 7.
Greinke was acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks in July for this occasion, to give the Astros a third top-tier hurler alongside Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander. Scherzer was, too, but nearly five years ago as a foundational piece for the Nationals. Before the game, Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman argued that Scherzer _ signed to a seven-year, $210 million contract in January 2015 _ is the greatest free-agent signing in major league history. He was the pitcher the Nationals wanted on the mound.
But Scherzer wasn't supposed to start Wednesday. He was originally slated to pitch in Game 5 on Sunday, but neck spasms left him unable to lift his right arm. He was scratched, the Nationals started Joe Ross, and the Astros won the game.
Scherzer received a cortisone injection Sunday morning hoping the discomfort would subside over the next 48 hours with rigorous treatment. The plan worked. Scherzer played catch before Game 6 on Tuesday and warmed up in the bullpen during the game but didn't enter. He was saved for Game 7.
So a half-hour before the most important game of his life, Scherzer sat alone in the visitors' dugout, head down, rocking back and forth, attempting to curb the adrenaline. This is a man who stomps around mounds and talks to himself on the mound during the regular season's dog days. Containing his energy presented a challenge.
Nationals manager Dave Martinez acknowledged he didn't know what he would get from Scherzer. But he was certain of one thing: he was going to push Scherzer as far as he could go. Martinez followed through on his promise. Scherzer didn't have his best stuff and the Astros applied relentless pressure. But Martinez ran red lights to keep Scherzer on the mound for five innings.
Scherzer began his tightrope escapade in the second inning. Yuli Gurriel led it off with a home run over the short porch in left field to set off the sold-out crowd. The next two batters singled, but the Astros stranded them. The trend continued over the next two innings without an Astros run. Scherzer was bending but not breaking. He wasn't missing many bats. His performance was gutsy _ and Martinez's faith was risky.
Scherzer took the mound in the fifth inning without movement in the Nationals' bullpen.
And with two outs, Carlos Correa lined a run-scoring single down the left-field line to finally add some cushion. The Astros were threatening for more. Runners were on the corners for Robinson Chirinos. A hit would've been deflating for Washington. But Scherzer wiggled free again to conclude his performance. The escape was crucial.
Greinke was mowing through the Nationals. They had one hit and one walk through six innings. The five-time Gold Glove winner was vacuuming every batted ball in his vicinity. Greinke was dialing his curveball down to 66 mph, which allowed for his 89-mph fastball to overwhelm hitters. He needed just 67 pitches to secure 18 outs. It all changed so quickly.
Rendon broke the ice with one out in the seventh inning, lining a home run into the left-field seats. Juan Soto was next and worked a walk on Greinke's 80th pitch. The free pass coaxed Hinch out to take the ball from Greinke. He gave it to Harris to face Kendrick for his 12th playoff appearance of the postseason 24 hours after giving up a pivotal two-run home run to Rendon in Game 6.
Harris started the encounter with a curveball. Kendrick whiffed. The next pitch was a 91-mph cutter low and away, tucked in a corner of the strike zone. It was a well-located pitch. But Kendrick stayed through the offering, cracking it down the right-field line. The line drive sliced for its entire flight until it caromed off the screen alongside the foul pole in front of a stunned George Springer in right field.
Kendrick raced around the bases. He yelled and clenched his fists. He had put the Nationals ahead again, when the stakes were at their highest, and on the path to a championship.
