Washington Nationals overcome odds to win first World Series

The Washington Nationals defeated the Houston Astros 6-2 in Houston Wednesday to earn the team’s first World Series title.

In a back-and-forth series, Washington won games 1,2,6 and 7, all on the road, a feat never accomplished before in Major League Baseball, or any of the county’s major professional sports that hold a championship series of games.

After losing three straight games at home to the Astros, the Nationals turned the momentum in Tuesday’s Game 6 and pressed on to victory in the final game.

Both teams chose Cy Young Award winners to pitch the final game. The Astros started with Zack Greinke and the Nationals countered with Max Scherzer.

Houston got the first run of the game on a solo home run by Yuli Gurriel in the second inning, and followed it up with a run in the fifth when a Carlos Correa hit drove in Michael Brantley. Scherzer’s night ended after that run and 103 pitches.

Washington began its comeback with a solo home run by Anthony Rendon in the seventh, followed by a two-run shot by Howie Kendrick later in the inning to take the lead 3-2 and knock Greinke out of the game.

Juan Soto added an RBI single in the eighth, driving in Adam Eaton and extending the Nationals lead 4-2, and Adam Eaton picked up a pair of RBIs in the top of the ninth to make it 6-2.

Houston, which won its first World Series in 2017, ends its season with the best regular-season record in the majors and is expected to be one of the American League’s top teams again in 2020.

The Nationals are expected to return with most of their roster intact for the 2020 campaign as well.

Details of a victory parade back home in Washington have not been announced, but a celebration is in the works in the coming days.