[ed. note - “The big news this afternoon is, of course, that Max Scherzer has been scratched from tonight’s start with a right trap and neck injury. We’ll have more on that news soon, but here’s the lineup post that we wrote before that news broke. Joe Ross gets the nod tonight, starting Game 5 with the Houston Astros on short notice when the Nationals determined that Scherzer wouldn’t be able to go.”]
Houston Astros’ Game 1 starter Gerrit Cole went into the outing having given up one run on a total of 10 hits in 22 2⁄3 innings pitched in his first three postseason starts, going (3-0) in those outings to extend an unbeaten streak which stretched back to the third week of May.