The wild-card Nationals got RBI from middle-of-the-order stars Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto in a seven-run first inning Tuesday night, and Patrick Corbin‘s 12-strikeout performance plus a trio of relievers helped hold on to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-4 in Game 4 to complete a sweep in the NLCS. The Nationals became the fourth team to reach the World Series after being 12 games under .500.
Now the Nationals get plenty of time to rest and set up their so-far terrific rotation before beginning the last series of the season against the Houston Astros or New York Yankees in a week. Houston leads the best-of-seven AL Championship Series 2-1 after winning Game 3 at New York 4-1 Tuesday.
Gerrit Cole worked seven shutout innings and the Houston Astros took a two-games-to-one lead in the American League Championship Series with a 4-1 victory over the New York Yankees. Cole struck out seven and allowed four hits while improving to 3-0 with a 0.40 ERA in three starts this postseason. Jose Altuve (al-TOO’-vay) and Josh Reddick belted solo homers to back Cole, who is 19-0 in 25 starts since a May 22 loss to the Chicago White Sox.