WASHINGTON — The Nationals are racking up a lot of firsts this October, as they make a historic run in their first ever World Series. The team's eight-game winning streak has them tied for the longest streak in a single postseason, and the also lay claim to the oldest team in baseball, with an average player age of 31.
As of Wednesday, they added another title to their growing roster of achievements, as the team with the first Hawaiian-born player to hit a home run in the World Series.
Catcher Kurt Suzuki, 36, crushed a 380-foot solo home run for the Nationals in the top of the 7th inning, to give the Nats a 3-2 lead over the Astros. The homer kicked off the Nats' six-run inning that became the turning point in Game 2 of the World Series.
The title-clinching home run was Suzuki's 18th for 2019, and 132nd in his career.
The fourth-generation Japanese-American was born in Wailuku, Hawaii and raised in Maui, before leaving to play college baseball for California State University, Fullerton. He led the the Cal State Fullerton Titans to a college World Series win in 2004, by hitting a go-ahead RBI single in the 7th inning.
Suzuki was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the second round of the 2004 amateur draft. He signed that same year. He was traded to the Nationals for the first time in 2012, before bouncing around between the As, the Twins and the Braves for five years. In 2018, he was granted free agency, and signed as a free agent with the Nationals again.
Fellow Hawaiian Shane Victorino, a former outfielder also born in Wailuku, amassed 13 World Series hits and 8 RBIs, but never snagged a World Series homer.
If you aren't stat-ed out, we'll leave you with our favorite: teams that take a 2-0 lead, when they start on the road, have won 10 of 13 World Series.