WASHINGTON — As long as the wondrous tradition of old timers lifting grandkids onto their knee to relate tales of extraordinary deeds exists, Game 5 of this NL Division Series will be recalled.
And then both grandparent and grandchild likely would retch.
“It was bizarro world, there’s no question about it,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said.
The Nationals grabbed a page or three out of the Bizarro Baseball playbook. They summoned Max Scherzer to protect a one-run lead in the fifth inning and watched their ace implode in an inning that put them in a ditch from which they could not escape. There, was more, lots more and the Cubs, using the experience of defending world champs, gladly accepted any and all gifts and held on for a 9-8 series-clinching victory Thursday night.
A lot depended on point of view. The Nationals saw what represented the go-ahead run picked off first by Cubs catcher Willson Contreras in the eighth inning. They left 14 men on base.
“I would say this is the most fun I’ve had playing in a baseball game,” said Cubs shortstop Addison Russell, who drove in four runs, including two that gave his team the lead for good on a double down the left-field line in the fateful fifth inning against Scherzer. “It ranks right up there with winning the World Series [after] being down 3-1.”
Meanwhile, the Nationals had a real blast. Sure they did.
“A gut punch again. Here we are in Game 5 giving everything we’ve got,” said Scherzer, who took the loss. “It sucks because I know how hard everybody played and how talented everybody is.”
But the Cubs were one run better this time.
“A series of bad events,” Washington manager Dusty Baker said.
The win moved the defending world champion Cubs into their third straight NLCS, pitting them in a rematch of 2016 against the Dodgers.
“It’s either exultation or being a bug on a windshield. It’s one of the two things,” Maddon said of elimination games.
So call Washington the Gnats, squished against a postseason windshield again. Washington has lost all four postseason series since the franchise moved here in 2005.
But these bugs did not go quietly into the windshield of the night. Washington battled and constantly threatened in a seemingly endless game that was better suited for a tie as both sides bungled for 4:37.
Trailing 9-6 in the seventh, the Nationals loaded the bases against Carl Edwards Jr. and starter-turned-reliever Jose Quintana. Bryce Harper, the potential go ahead run, hit a sac fly. Closer Wade Davis was summoned and struck out Ryan Zimmerman.
In the eighth, two walks made pinch-hitter Adam Lind the potential go-ahead run, but Davis induced a double-play grounder. Michael A. Taylor, though, who had slugged a three-run homer earlier, one day after his Game 4 grand slam, singled and it was 9-8. Jose Lobaton singled, but with men on first and second, was picked off by Contreras. The call originally was safe, but the Cubs challenged and after a 1:56 review, Lobaton was out.
“I thought he was out I thought his foot came off the bag. Snap throw from Contreras, got to be aware,” said Harper who struck out to end the game against Wade Davis who got his third save of the series.
Taylor homered in the second, when Daniel Murphy also victimized starter Kyle Hendricks with a solo shot, as Washington had an early 4-1 lead. But the Cubs simply used everything in their arsenal, including that four-run fifth against Scherzer. In a series in which the first four games produced a combined 34 hits and 20 runs, pitching had dominated. Until Thursday. Control checked out early. Defense wasn’t far behind.
In an “all hands on deck” scenario for both teams, the Nationals, up 4-3, brought in Scherzer, who had carried a no-hitter for 6 ¹/₃ innings of Game 3 Monday, to stabilize matters. Twenty-eight pitches, 10 batters, four runs, three hits, one strikeout-passed ball, one throwing error, one catcher’s interference, one hit batsman, one intentional walk and 17 belly laughs later, it was 7-4 Cubs.
“We just believe it’s going to happen again. This was an exciting win. It’s every guy individually stepping up with a never-say-die attitude,” said Ben Zobrist, who had a pinch hit single in the fifth.
“It’s never easy, but experience is the best teacher,” Jason Heyward said of the Cubs overcoming adversity. “You have no choice, either you get over it dwell on it or it sinks your ship.”