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Pa. Secretary of State: Know your rights at the polls

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Backup quarterback Weist leads Wilkes to OT win against Misericordia

<p>WASHINGTON &#8212; Jos&#233; Urquidy outpitched all those big-name aces who preceded him, the unheralded Houston rookie quieting Washington&#8217;s bats and the Nationals Park crowd, too.</p><p>Houston and Washington are all even in a World Series that has been one big road show.</p><p>Alex Bregman busted out of his slump with a go-ahead single in the first inning and a grand slam in the seventh, and the resurgent Astros routed the Nationals 8-1 Saturday night to tie the Series at two games apiece.</p><p>Game 1 winner Max Scherzer takes the mound Sunday night hoping to get a home Series victory for Washington for the first time since the Senators at Griffith Stadium in 1933. In a rematch of the opener, Gerrit Cole goes for Houston after losing for the first time since May.</p><p>Visiting teams have won the first four games for the first time since 1996, when the Yankees broke the pattern in Game 6 against Atlanta to take the title.</p><p>Game 6 will be Tuesday night in Houston, when the Astros lose their road-field advantage.</p><p>Yuli Gurriel also drove in a run in the first as Houston strung together four singles in a seven-pitch span for a 2-0 lead against Patrick Corbin. Robinson Chirinos homered for the second straight day, a two-run drive that boosted the lead to 4-0 in the fourth.</p><p>Fans started leaving in the seventh, when the Astros sent 10 batters to the plate and battered the bullpen. Bregman, who began the night in a 1-for-13 Series slide, had the big blow, driving a low, inside fastball from Fernando Rodney into the left field stands of the ballpark where was the All-Star Game MVP in 2018. He held his bat high as he slowly walked out of the batter&#8217;s box, then took nearly 30 seconds to circle the bases.</p><p>Orange-clad Houston fans in the right field upper deck chanted &#8220;Let&#8217;s go Astros!&#8221; as Nationals fans were silenced. Wild-card Washington lost consecutive games for the first time since Sept. 13-14 against Atlanta.</p><p>Starting pitchers were the talk of the Series coming in, with Washington&#8217;s Stephen Strasburg, Scherzer and Corbin combining for 12 All-Star selections and three Cy Young Awards. The baseball cards of Houston&#8217;s Cole, Justin Verlander and Zack Greinke shine with 17 All-Star picks, two Cy Youngs and one MVP.</p><p>But there were just five 1-2-3 innings by starters in the first three games, and the most consecutive outs were by the Nationals&#8217; An&#237;bal S&#225;nchez, who retired seven straight in Game 3.</p><p>Urquidy, a 24-year-old right-hander, exceeded them all.</p><p>Not bad for a TBA.</p><p>Urquidy wasn&#8217;t even announced as Houston&#8217;s starter until after Game 3, with Astros manager AJ Hinch hoping to piece together innings any way he could.</p><p>Urquidy began the season at Double-A Corpus Christi, was bumped up to Triple-A Round Rock in mid-May and made his major league debut in July. He faced the Nationals in just his 12th big league appearance, joining Fernando Valenzuela (1981) and Jaime Garc&#237;a (2011) as the only Mexican starting pitchers in Series history.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Houston Astros cleanup hitter Alex Bregman watches his grand slam against the Washington Nationals during the seventh inning of Game 4 of the World Series on Saturday in Washington, D.C. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_123851296-3515195af1e4404f909a9044505bfbe4.jpg</photo0><caption0>Houston Astros cleanup hitter Alex Bregman watches his grand slam against the Washington Nationals during the seventh inning of Game 4 of the World Series on Saturday in Washington, D.C. </caption0><photoCredit0>Patrick Semansky | AP Photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Ronald Blum</p><p>AP Baseball Writer</p></bylineMeta></div>

Astros get even, slam Nationals 8-1