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Nationals Top Astros to Win First World Series

VOA News

   The Washington Nationals defeated the Houston Astros 6-2 Wednesday in
   the deciding seventh game of the World Series to claim their first
   Major League Baseball championship in franchise history.

   Washington had to rely on what had become a defining factor of their
   playoff run, staging a late comeback after falling behind early in the
   game.

   The Nationals played in five deciding games in October and at one point
   trailed in all five. Even making the playoffs seemed like a distant
   goal in May when the team was struggling with a 19-31 record.

   'We stayed in the fight'

   But Manager Dave Martinez, who faced numerous calls for him to be
   fired, preached resiliency and his motto that to turn things around the
   team needed only to win that day's game.

   "Guess what, we stayed in the fight," Martinez said Wednesday, echoing
   what had become a team slogan. "We won the fight!"

   A second-inning home run by Astros first basemen Yuli Gurriel put the
   Nationals and ace starting pitcher Max Scherzer in a 1-0 hole.

   Scherzer was pitching days after being scratched from a planned start
   in Game 5 of the series thanks to a neck injury. He and the Nationals
   fell behind 2-0 in the fifth inning as Houston shortstop Carlos Correa
   singled home Gurriel.

   Up to that point, Astros starting pitcher Zack Greinke had been moving
   methodically through the Washington lineup, allowing only a single by
   Nationals left fielder Juan Soto in the second inning. Things changed
   in the seventh inning.

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