Astros back in it after impressive Game 3 win

WASHINGTON—From the moment George Springer jumped on the game’s third pitch for a single, then quickly swiped a base, to the way he and his teammates sprinted off the field after the final out a little past midnight on Saturday, the Houston Astros were suddenly aggressive and energetic.

And suddenly right back in the thick of this World Series.

Yes, the Fall Classic finally showed up back in Washington, 86 years later—and, sparked by Springer and José Altuve, the Astros finally showed up in the Fall Classic.

Springer had two of Houston’s four steals, Altuve doubled twice before scoring each time, Zack Greinke repeatedly worked out of trouble, and the Astros made sure they wouldn’t go quietly despite looking listless twice at home, beating the Nationals, 4-1, on Friday night to cut their Series deficit to 2-1.

“We’re pretty good, too,” Astros manager AJ Hinch said. “It kind of reestablishes us.”

Houston can even things up in Game 4 on Saturday night at Nationals Park. Washington will start $140-million lefty Patrick Corbin, while Hinch said he’ll go with rookie José Urquidy.

“We didn’t panic,” Altuve said.

Washington’s eight-game winning streak, tied for the longest in a single postseason, ended with a sloppy performance in the first Series game hosted by the nation’s capital since the Senators lost to the New York Giants in 1933.

A sellout crowd of 43,867, dressed mostly in red for the occasion, soaked it all in, standing in unison at key moments, booing ball-strike calls that hurt their team, chanting “Let’s go, Nats!” often and even getting to do their “Baby Shark” sing-and-clap-along when that children’s tune blared as a walk-up song in the sixth.

“It was electric,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. “The boys in the dugout, they were fired up.”

But the wild-card Nationals were unable to move one win from a championship, undone by an inability to come through in the clutch: Birthday boy Juan Soto, MVP candidate Anthony Rendon and Co. were 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position, leaving 12 runners on base.

“Tonight we were a little bit aggressive outside the strike zone,” Martinez said. “We took balls I thought we should hit, uncharacteristic of what we’ve been doing.” —AP