CHICAGO – The Washington Nationals used heroics to event the NLDS series against the Chicago Cubs in Game 2. They will look to take the lead as the series heads to Wrigley Field on Monday afternoon.
Scherzer finally makes his 15th career postseason start; he is 4-4 with a 3.74 ERA. Quintana, meanwhile, will be making his playoff debut and first appearance against the Nationals.
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Here's what you need to know for Game 3:
Time/First Pitch: 4:08 P.M., EST
Location: Wrigley Field, Chicago
TV/How to watch: TBS
Starting pitchers: Washington, Max Scherzer vs. Chicago, Jose Quintana
Follow live Nationals/Cubs scoring updates below:
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Harper, Zimmerman HRs lift Nats past Cubs 6-3 to even NLDS
Things were looking bleak for Bryce Harper, Ryan Zimmerman and the rest of the Washington Nationals. They had accumulated one run and four hits through the first 16 innings of their NL Division Series against the Chicago Cubs.
The situation was hardly ideal. Neither was the mood.
“You do your best to keep your spirits up. You get frustrated,” Zimmerman acknowledged. “I don’t want to say ‘pressure,’ but, yeah, I mean, the tension builds a little bit, I’ll be honest with you. ... Pouting is not going to help you the next time you come up.”
Power, though, will. Harper delivered a no-doubt-about-it , tying two-run homer in the eighth, and Zimmerman tacked on a three-run shot that barely made it over the wall moments later, lifting the Nationals to a 6-3 comeback victory over the defending World Series champions on Saturday, evening their NLDS at a game apiece.
“Sometimes,” Zimmerman said, “it takes kind of just one hit for everyone to exhale.”
The Nationals were in serious danger of falling behind 2-0 in the series, entering the eighth trailing 3-1 after being shut out in Game 1. But the NL East champions broke out with five runs and four hits, thanks to two big swings from 2015 NL MVP Harper — only recently back from a left knee injury that sidelined him for 42 games — and longtime face of the franchise Zimmerman.
“I was kind of bewildered, because it’s not too many teams or pitchers that have held us in check like that for a couple days,” Nationals manager Dusty Baker said. “I just knew in the bottom of my heart that we were going to explode for some numbers, which we’ve done all year.”
Indeed, his team reached franchise highs for runs and homers this season, and the Nationals were the only club in the majors with four players — including Harper and Zimmerman — who each topped 20 homers and 85 RBIs.
The NLDS moves to Wrigley Field for Game 3 on Monday. The Cubs will have July acquisition Jose Quintana on the mound, while the Nationals finally send out two-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer, who was pushed back in the rotation because of an injured right hamstring.
“The train’s coming,” Harper said. “We’re a great team. We’ve got Max coming.”
Yes, this matchup is suddenly a contest, and not a moment too soon for Washington, which has won four division titles in the past six years but never won a playoff series.
Jon Lester held Washington to one run and two hits through six innings in Game 2, but Cubs manager Joe Maddon turned to his bullpen and everything changed.
Pinch hitter Adam Lind led off the eighth with a single in the first playoff at-bat of a career that has spanned more than a decade and 1,344 regular-season games.
Carl Edwards Jr. then went to a 3-1 count against Harper and hung a curveball.
“I thought about taking the whole way,” Harper said. “And then I saw the loop in the curveball and said, ‘Why not swing as hard as you can?’ Got barrel on it. Pretty good moment.”
He took a moment to admire his shot before chucking his bat to the ground as the ball reached the second deck in right field. Harper’s teammates in the dugout reacted immediately, screaming and raising fists as the ball tore through the night air.
Maddon defended his decision to have the righty-throwing Edwards pitch to the lefty-batting Harper.
“He made a bad pitch and the guy didn’t miss it, and that’s it. Sometimes that happens. Bryce is good. C.J. is good,” Maddon said. “Bryce got him.”
With fans in the crowd of 43,860 roaring and twirling red towels, Harper jumped up the dugout steps for a curtain call, throwing an uppercut. Then he flipped his hair on his way back to rejoin his teammates after his fifth homer in 16 career postseason games.
“Bryce always steps up right when it’s the time,” said Nationals starter Gio Gonzalez, who allowed Willson Contreras’ solo homer in the second, and Anthony Rizzo’s two-run shot in the fourth.
“It’s unbelievable what he does and how he does it,” Gonzalez continued. “He’s a story, a movie, everything all in one.”
It was the first extra-base hit for Harper since returning from the disabled list during the last week of September after missing 42 games with an injured left knee. He was only 4 for 25 overall in the regular season and playoffs after coming back until that key, possibly series-altering, at-bat.
After the next two men reached, Zimmerman stepped in to face Mike Montgomery. This has been a renaissance year for the first baseman, who had only 15 homers and 46 RBIs during an injury-plagued 2016, but led the Nationals this season with 36 homers and 108 RBIs.
On an evening when balls carried in 12 mph wind — every run scored on a homer — Zimmerman’s high shot somehow just made it far enough in left field.
At what point did Zimmerman realize the ball was gone?
“When it landed in the flower bed, I guess,” he joked. “Maybe got a little lucky. Who knows?”
As he began running the bases, Zimmerman jutted his right fist out, then spread both arms wide, the way a kid pretends to be an airplane.
That made a winner of Oliver Perez, who pitched to one man in the eighth, inducing an inning-ending double play off Rizzo’s bat. The last of Washington’s six pitchers, closer Sean Doolittle, worked the ninth for his first postseason save.
“We had them where we wanted them,” Montgomery said, “and we couldn’t get the job done.”
Cubs’ bullpen implodes in Game 2 loss to Nationals
Carl Edwards Jr. knew the ball was gone as soon as it left his hand. Mike Montgomery wasn’t sure until it went just over the fence.
The sinking feeling was the same for each reliever, and the rest of the Chicago Cubs.
Edwards’ hanging curveball turned into a tying two-run homer by Bryce Harper and Montgomery’s pulled changeup became a three-run shot by Ryan Zimmerman. The five-run rally in the eighth inning lifted Washington to a 6-3 victory on Saturday, tying the NL Division Series at a game apiece.
“It’s frustrating, but when you’re going up against good hitters, you’ve got to make your pitches,” Montgomery said. “We had them where we wanted them, and we couldn’t get the job done late in the game.”
The World Series champion Cubs wasted another solid playoff performance by Jon Lester and homers for Anthony Rizzo and Willson Contreras . Game 3 is Monday at Wrigley Field.
Lester allowed one run and two hits in six innings in his 20th career postseason start. The left-hander threw 86 pitches before he was pulled in favor of a pinch hitter.
Pedro Strop worked a scoreless seventh before Edwards got into trouble in the eighth. With one out and a runner on first, the wiry right-hander fell behind 3-1 against Harper and the 2015 NL MVP drove his next pitch into the second deck in right field.
Citing the 26-year-old’s numbers against lefties, manager Joe Maddon called turning to Edwards “the right option” and “the only option.” Lefties hit .119 against Edwards this season and .135 over his career. But the Nationals were also 5 for 12 against him this season.
“C.J. was the right man for the job,” Maddon said. “He made a bad pitch and the guy didn’t miss it, and that’s it. Sometimes that happens. Bryce is good. C.J. is good. Bryce got him.”
Edwards said it was “the right pitch, just the wrong hitter.” Walking Anthony Rendon put Montgomery on the spot because Maddon wanted a ground-ball pitcher. Instead, the lefty allowed a single to Daniel Murphy and then the home run to Zimmerman that the wind carried over left fielder Ben Zobrist.
“It’s a tough situation, but it’s the kind of situations I want to be in,” Montgomery said. “I prepared for that. It just didn’t go my way this time.”
As much as the Cubs could feel the surprising turn of events, the memories of winning the World Series last year crept in not long after. Rizzo, who became the franchise’s all-time postseason leader in home runs and RBIs, said nothing is going to faze his team.
“We’ve given up way bigger home runs than that before,” Rizzo said. “You’re not going to knock us down. We gave up a home run to Rajai Davis to tie the game in the eighth inning (in Game 7 of the World Series). It’s part of the journey. You’ve got to embrace it.”
After that home run, Maddon turned to Edwards and Montgomery to get the final three outs for the Cubs’ first championship since 1908. So it’s not at all surprising that Maddon wants them back out there in the same situation soon and so do their teammates.
“We’ve all been there, we’ve all given up big hits, we’ve all given up big homers,” Lester said. “Hopefully the situation arises on Monday and they go right back out there and dominate.”