World Series Game Two: Stephen Strasburg, Asdrubal Cabrera Power Nationals' 12-3 Rout of Astros

Players of the Day for Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Cabrera: 2-for-5, 3 RBI

2019 World Series - Game 2

Washington Nationals 12 Houston Astros 3

A wild card entrant into the post-season, the Washington Nationals took a commanding, two game lead over the Houston Astros with a 12-3 rout in game two of the World Series.

Washington won for the second straight night at Houston's Minute Maid Park, wiping out home field advantage, as the series shifts to Washington for games three, four, and, if necessary, five.

Both teams score a pair of runs in the first inning, Washington's coming on a double to left by Anthony Rendon. Houston struck back with a two-run homer by Alex Bregman.

The score continued knotted until the decisive seventh inning, when the Nationals sent Houston starter, Justin Verlander, to the showers when he allowed a Kurt Suzuki solo homer and a walk to Victor Robles without retiring a batter.

Strasburg wins Game 2

Washington was just getting warmed up, however, as they sent eight more men to the plate in the frame, scoring six runs, highlighted by Asdrubal Cabrera's two out single that plated two runs. Adam Eaton added two more in the seventh with a two run blast to right, and Cabrera capped his night with another RBI single.

Michael Taylor finished Washington's scoring with a solo home run in the top of the ninth. Martin Maldonado socked a solo shot for the Astros in the bottom of the ninth for Houston's only run since the first inning.

Stephen Strasburg picked up the win for the Nationals, going six innings and allowing only the two first inning runs. He gave up seven hits, walked one, and fanned seven. Having a fantastic post-season, Strasburg is 4-0 with a 1.93 ERA. In 28 innings pitched, the 31-year-old has struck out 40 batters. Over the course of the regular season, Strasburg was 18-6 with a 3.32 ERA and is a leading candidate for NL MVP.

With two games in hand, the Nationals and Astros head to the nation's capitol for game three, Friday, 8:07 pm ET.

Cabrera Powers Indians Past Red Sox; Stanton Bombs Mets with Slam in 10th

Players of the Day for Monday, August 1, 2011

American League

Cabrera: Two Homers

The Cleveland Indians opened a crucial four-game series with the Boston Red Sox on Monday at Fenway Park, coming away with a 9-6 victory which moved them 1/2 game closer to the Central-division-leading Tigers, who are now two games in front.

Asdrubal Cabrera continued his season of all-around excellence by picking up the Indians when needed most. In the 6th, with Boston clinging to a 3-2 lead, Cabrera socked a two-run homer to right, putting the Indians up by a run.

Coming to the plate again in the 8th inning with a man aboard and the game tied at 5-all, Cabrera knocked his second long ball of the evening, putting Cleveland ahead for good. The versatile shortstop finished the night 3-for-5, with 3 runs, four RBI and a pair of home runs, his 18th and 19th of the season. Cabrera is batting .293 with 65 RBI.

Boston's loss allowed the Yankees to creep to within one game in the AL East, with a weekend series with New York looming.

National League

Normally, it's Gaby Sanchez who does most of the damage whenever the Marlins and Mets get together, and the all star definitely did his part with a sac fly in the 1st inning and an RBI single in the third.

Grand Slam Stanton

The work of Sanchez would not be enough on this night, however, as the Mets rallied to tie the game in the 9th inning on Lucas Duda's two-run blast, sending the game to an extra frame.

That's when Mike Stanton made his presence felt, bombing reliever Jason Isringhausen with a grand slam in the top of the 10th for a 7-3 Florida triumph.

Stanton, who had singled earlier, ended up with a 2-for-5 night with a homer and four RBI. The second-year outfielder is having a sensational season, with 25 home runs and 67 RBI.

The Marlins closed to within one game of the third place Mets, though both squads are struggling to catch the second place Braves in the division, as Atlanta currently holds the keys to the wild card.

Florida is 54-55, and trails the Braves by 8 1/2 games. The Mets are one game better, at 55-54.

Kemp, Gwynn, Oeltjen Combine for 12 Hits in Dodger Rout; Cabreras Make Indians a Winner

Players of the Day for Monday, June 27, 2011

American League

Asdrubal Cabrera

Although unrelated, the Cabrera boys, Asdrubal and Orlando, have been a lethal combination in the middle infield for the Cleveland Indians.

Orlando Cabrera

If Monday's 5-4 win over Arizona was made into a Hollywood movie, they would be credited as producers, directors and stars of the film.

Asdrubal got the Indians started with a two-run homer in the first inning and Orlando finished off the show with a solo home run in the top of the 9th for the winning run.

The win left Cleveland a game behind the Tigers in the AL Central, while sending the Diamondbacks to their third straight loss, two games behind the Giants, who have won five straight, in the NL West.

National League

Matt Kemp

Even though the Dodgers filed for bankruptcy on Monday, that did not diminish the desire of the players on the field.

Tony Gwynn Jr.

Chad Billingsley tossed six innings of 4-hit, shutout ball, the bullpen blanked the Twins the rest of the way and the position players banged out 25 hits, in a 15-0 on-field, statement victory over Minnesota, who have now lost six straight.

Three different Dodgers - Tony Gwynn Jr., Matt Kemp and Trent Oeltjen - collected four hits apiece as the team attempted to retain some sense of dignity even though they are nine games behind the Giants in the NL West and eight game under .500, at 36-44.

Trent Oeltjen

Gwynn was 4-for-6, all singles, but stole two bases, scored twice and drove in a run. Matt Kemp continued his assault on pitchers of all types, from either league, going 4-for-5, including his league-leading 22nd home run, a double, two runs and two RBI.

Oeltjen, the rookie outfielder, had a pair of singles, a triple and a solo home run, drove in a pair of runs and scored three times.

Twelve hits by the Dodger outfield says more about the team than the financial fiasco of the ownership.

INTERLEAGUE TALLY: There were just six interleague games on Monday, and the National League won four of them, trimming the AL lead to just two games, at 88-86.

Asdrubal Cabrera Leads Indians with three Doubles; Ubaldo Jimenez Gats First Win

Players of the Day for Wednesday, June 1, 2011

American League

Asdrubal Cabrera

The Cleveland Indians just keep rolling along. At 33-20 (.623) they have the best record in the majors and lead the AL Central division by five games over the Tigers.

Part of the reason for their overall success is the career year Asdrubal Cabrera has been putting together. In Wednesday's 13-9 slug-fest win over the Blue Jays, the Indians banged out 19 hits off seven Toronto hurlers, four of those hits coming off Cabrera's bat.

Cabrera singled and doubled three times in six at-bats, raising his batting average to .302. He drove in three runs and scored twice.

While a .306 batting average may not sound like much, there are just 15 players in the American League hitting .300 or better. Cabrera ranks 13th on that list. His 39 RBI are the 7th-most in that department and are more than half of his best single-season total - 68 in 2009.

National League

Ubaldo Jimenez

At last, Ubaldo Jimenez has a number in the left column.

Starting out the season 0-5, Jimenez finally notched a win for 2011, blanking the Dodgers on four hits and going the distance in a 2-0 Colorado win.

All business on the mound, Jimenez needed just 106 pitches (74 for strikes) to get through the nine innings without walking a batter while striking out seven.

The win for the Rockies' ace could not have come at a more opportune time. The Rockies, who at one time held a comfortable lead in the NL West, ended the month of May on a 2-9 skid, so starting off June with a win certainly is a step in another direction.

Jimenez may be turning things around as well. On July 8 of 2010, he was 15-1, but finished the season at 19-8, going 4-7 into the fall.

Asdrubal Cabrera Goes 5-for-5 for Indians; Hunter Pence Gets Houston a Series Win

Players of the Day for Sunday, May 22, 2011

American League

Asdrubal Cabrera

Having already inflicted severe psychological damage on most of the American League, the Cleveland Indians spent the weekend focused on the National League, specifically, making sure that everyone understood that the pride of Ohio was not to be found in Cincinnati, but along the shores of Lake Erie.

After beating the Reds, 5-4, on Friday and 2-1 on Saturday, the Indians took them out behind the woodshed on Sunday and delivered a rough, 12-4, beating.

Chief among the Cleveland offensive marvels was shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, who went 5-for-5, punched out a pair of home runs, stole a base, scored twice and drove in five runs. Reds' hurlers couldn't keep Cabrera off the bases. Except for the 6th inning, there were men aboard every time he stepped to the plate. Cabrera's response to leading off the 6th was his second home run of the game.

Cabrera's two homers gave him nine on the season, and upped his RBI total to 32. Cleveland continues to dominate the AL Central standings. They maintained a seven-game lead, the largest in the majors.

National League

Upon completion of the first weekend of interleague play, the Houston Astros can celebrate having taken two of three from the Toronto Blue Jays.

Hunter Pence

That may not be saying much, but for the last place Astros, winning a series against anyone is a step in the right direction.

Hunter Pence broke a 1-1 tie in the 5th inning with his 6th home run of the season, a two-run poke to left that gave Houston a lead they would not relinquish in their 3-2 win.

Pence also scored the Astros' first run, reaching on a fielder's choice and coming around to score in the third inning. In the 7th, he singled, completing a 2-for-5 day.

DIAMOND NOTES: After taking it on the chin the first two days of interleague play, the American League came back with a vengeance on Sunday, winning 10 and losing four, That left the two leagues dead even after 42 games this weekend, each league winning 21.

Overshadowed, but surely not to be forgotten: Rick Porcello had a no-hitter through five innings and finished with a 1-hitter over 8 innings as the Tigers dropped the Pirates, 2-0. Ronny Cedeno had Pittsburgh's only hit off Porcello, who improved to 4-2.

Tampa Bay remained tied with the Yankees in the AL East as James Shields threw a three-hit shutout in the Rays' 4-0 win over the Marlins. Shields (5-2) struck out 13 batters and issued only one walk.

Alexei Ramirez went 4-for-5 with two doubles and a home run as the White Sox whacked the Dodgers, 8-3. Ramirez scored twice and drove in a season-high five runs.