Gerrit Cole, who dominated baseball most of this season, bouncing back from a Game 1 clunker to pitch the Astros to a 7-1 win Sunday night and a 3-2 lead.
But the unlikely World Series run of the Washington Nationals has become something truly unexpected: a unifying force in a city that hasn't known much unity recently.
The Nats erupted for 10 runs over their last three at-bats and blasted the Astros 12-3. Kurt Suzuki’s solo homer broke a 2-2 tie off of Houston's Justin Verlander.
Juan Soto's homer hit the train tracks above the left field wall as the Nationals tagged Gerrit Cole and the Houston Astros 5-4 in the World Series opener.
Justin Verlander will follow Gerrit Cole and start Game 2 of the World Series for Astros against Nats on Wednesday and Zack Greinke will start for the Astros on Friday.
The Nationals got RBIs from Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto in a seven-run first inning and Patrick Corbin's 12-strikeout performance to sweep the Cardinals 7-4.