Friday night, the Chicago Cubs and Washington Nationals started their NLDS matchup with Game 1 at Nationals Park. And, for the first time this postseason, both starters pitched well. Quality starting pitching has been hard to come by so far this October.
The defending World Series champion Cubs earned a 3-0 win (box score) Friday to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series. Game 2 is Saturday night.
Here are four things to know about Game 1.
Strasburg set a franchise postseason strikeout record
Max Scherzer's hamstring injury meant Stephen Strasburg, who himself had an outstanding regular season, got the ball in Game 1 of the NLDS on Friday. And he did not disappoint. Strasburg allowed two unearned runs on three hits and a walk in seven innings of work. He struck out 10.
Those 10 strikeouts are a new Expos/Nationals postseason record. Here are the five highest postseason strikeout totals in franchise history:
- Stephen Strasburg: 10 (2017 NLDS Game 1)
- Max Scherzer: 7 (2016 NLDS Game 5)
- Jordan Zimmermann: 6 (2014 NLDS Game 2)
Bill Gullickson: 6 (1981 NLDS Game 1)
Bill Gullickson: 6 (1981 NLDS Game 4)
So, technically, the franchise single postseason game strikeout record has been broken in back-to-back games.
Hendricks was better than Strasburg
Strasburg's stuff was silly in Game 1. He has top 1 percent in MLB stuff and it showed Friday night.
Kyle Hendricks ... does not have great stuff. It's good stuff! But he's not out there throwing upper-90s with a knee-buckling curveball. He works with an upper-80s sinker and a dead fish changeup, and it works for him because his command is elite.
Hendricks used that upper-80s changeup, that dead fish changeup, and that elite command to befuddle the Nationals for scoreless innings in Game 1. His final pitching line:
Hendricks was a monster after returning from a hand injury in late July, throwing 78 innings with a 2.19 ERA and a .248/.294/.364 batting line against in his final 13 starts of the season. That's why he got the nod in Game 1. The great finish to the regular season carried over to the postseason.
Bryant's go-ahead hit was a work of art
It wasn't until there were two outs in the top of the sixth that the Cubs finally recorded their first hit against Strasburg, and with one swing of the bat, Kris Bryant ended the no-hitter and shutout. His two-strike single broke the scoreless tie. Here's the video:
That's a solid single the other way in an 0-2 count on a 96.2 mph pitch running back in on his hands. That is not an easy pitch to hit at all. Not when you have to respect the nasty breaking ball and nasty changeup in an 0-2 count. It takes a special hitter to drive that ball with authority the other way like that.
Lind still hasn't played in the postseason
For the first time in his 12 big-league seasons, Adam Lind is on a postseason team. He spent all those years with the Blue Jays before moving on to the Brewers and Mariners, and never once played on a team that went to the postseason.
Lind is finally getting a chance to experience October baseball, though he did not get into Game 1 on Friday. He is Washington's top left-handed pinch-hitter, and the team did not use him. No active player in baseball has appeared in more regular season games without playing in the postseason.
There are at least two games left in the Nationals season, so Lind still has time to take his swings in the postseason for the first time in his career.