Oct 30, 2019; Houston, TX, USA; Washington Nationals designated hitter Howie Kendrick (47) celebrates with left fielder Juan Soto (22) after hitting a two-run home run against the Houston Astros in game seven of the 2019 World Series. (Troy Taormina/USA TODAY Sports)
The Commissioner’s Trophy will move from Boston to the nation’s capital, as the Nationals successfully pulled off the comeback to defeat the Astros in Game 7 of the 2019 World Series on Wednesday night, 4-2.
It was hardly smooth sailing for the Nats in this one, though, as Max Scherzer surrendered a solo shot to Yuli Gurriel in the bottom of the second, and saw the deficit double to two behind a Carlos Correa single in the bottom of the fifth.
And with Astros starter Zach Greinke simply dealing on the Houston bump.
Down to their final eight outs, Anthony Rendon put the Nats on the board with a solo shot off Greinke. It was just the second hit of the evening off Greinke, and their first since the second inning. Greinke responded with a walk to Juan Soto, and that was the end of the night for the 36-year-old, as Astros manager A.J. Hinch made the call to the bullpen after 80 pitches.
But that move would backfire — and in a major way — as Will Harris surrendered a two-run bomb to Howie Kendrick to put the Nationals up 3-2 entering the bottom of the seventh inning.
The homer made Kendrick the first player in MLB history to hit a go-ahead home run in the seventh inning or later of a winner-take-all game, as he hit the grand slam that pushed the Nationals by the Dodgers in Game 5 of the NLDS.
Washington added another run in the eighth, and two more in the ninth, before a one-two-three ninth sealed the deal on their first World Series win in franchise history.