Nationals vs. Cubs live updates: Score and highlights from NLDS Game 4

The Washington Nationals are trying to keep their season alive, and they’ll have one of the best pitchers in baseball to take on the Chicago Cubs in Game 4 of the NLDS. The question of the day, however, is just how capable a very sick Stephen Strasburg will be?

If Strasburg is not 100 percent, the Nationals’ season will end, and the hot takes will continue. Oh, how the hot takes will continue.

If he’s 100 percent and as effective as he can be, there will be fewer hot takes and a Game 5. I’m supposed to be impartial, but as a baseball fan, I know which outcome provides less stupidity and more baseball.

As usual, if you want to read from the beginning, scroll down to the bottom and work your way back up. Or just start with us at 4 p.m. ET, refresh constantly, and you’ll never be lost.

8:07 p.m. - It’s over. Sean Doolittle had a calm, 1-2-3 ninth inning, and the Nationals have avoided elimination. Stephen Strasburg gets to extend a pasty, clammy middle finger to everyone who doubted his heart. There will be a Game 5, and because it’s 2017, that means we’ll probably get Kyle Hendricks, Jose Quintana, Max Scherzer, Tanner Roark, and Gio Gonzalez. That’s if we don’t get five more innings from Strasburg, just because.

The real winner is probably the Dodgers, though that might be overthinking it.

The Cubs’ offense has been surprisingly ineffective for huge chunks of this series, doing almost nothing against Nationals starters and not a whole lot more against their bullpen. It’s to their credit that they’ll get a chance to advance to the NLCS again, and all they’ll have to win is one lousy game.

At the same time, I’m pretty sure the Nationals are doggone sick of losing in the first round of the postseason every year. Pretty, pretty sure.

7:54 p.m. - Nationals fans are excited, by the way.

7:47 p.m. - The Cubs rallied in the bottom of the eighth. The score is still 5-0, Nationals.

We’re three outs away from a game on Thursday. I was going to get my hair cut, but I can’t even be mad. Game 5s in the NLDS make the world go round.

7:25 p.m. - The eighth inning has been kind to the Nationals.

It doesn’t matter if the Cubs don’t win a potential Game 5 of this series or if they advance to the NLCS, their solid-not-great bullpen will be a talking point. Carl Edwards, Jr. is a fun, electric arm, but if his 5.2 BB/9 rate is the best the Cubs can do when they need a bunch of outs in the seventh and/or eighth inning, it will continue to cost them.

The rain is falling pretty steadily at Wrigley Field now. With the Cubs down 5-0, it feels entirely appropriate.

7:17 p.m. - Carl Edwards was the reliever who came in after Lester, and he allowed a wild pitch before walking Anthony Rendon before walking Matt Wieters. He started Michael Taylor off with a wild, running fastball that almost hit him, and Joe Maddon unceremoniously removed him in the middle of the at-bat for Wade Davis.

That didn’t work out so well.

Taylor hit a grand slam against the wind, into the basket in right field, and the Nationals have a 5-0 lead. The Cubs have six outs left if they want to end the series, but that’s looking increasingly unlikely. And the rally started with two outs and Jon Lester pitching 11 outs of perfect relief.

Lester getting charged with an earned run seems like the most unfair part of this whole thing, really. The Nationals, long the jesters of the NLDS, are putting together a signature game. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen to them, really?

7:01 p.m. - JON LESTER PICKED SOMEONE OFF.

THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

After walking Ryan Zimmerman, Lester snapped a quick throw to first base and caught him napping. Well, not napping, really. He was showing symptoms of being well aware that Lester never, ever, ever throws to first.

Almost never, ever, ever throws to first.

Of course, Lester has been getting froggier when it comes to pickoffs. This was from earlier in the season:

Still, it was kind of a boss-level move to allow his first runner of the game and then immediately yip-pick him off. The score is still 1-0 in the eighth inning, and even though he’s out of the game, Lester’s general badassery is a large part of that.

6:44 p.m. - Jon Lester finished three perfect relief innings, and he was impressive. Stephen Strasburg finished seven near perfect innings as a starter, and he was masterful. On his 100th pitch of the evening, he recorded his 11th strikeout. He’s earned the right to go lie down somewhere and shiver.

The pitch of the night? The changeup. He’s thrown it more in Game 4 than he has in years.

Kris Bryant has been retired on three of those changeups. Ben Zobrist ended a seven-pitch at-bat in the bottom of the seventh when he whiffed on a changeup, and that was after working himself into a 3-1 count. Addison Russell struck out on an 89-mph changeup. Jason Heyward struck out to end the inning on an 89-mph changeup. It’s been an absolute clinic out there.

There were questions about Strasburg’s heart and desire when it was announced that he wasn’t going to pitch Game 4. He should breathe on the people asking those questions. Assuming that was his last pitch, his final line:

7 IP
3 H
0 R
2 BB
12 K

That is one way to shut everyone up. That is certainly one way.

6:31 p.m. - Strasburg is human! He allowed his second walk of the night on his 88th pitch, which was thrown to Anthony Rizzo. For his part, Rizzo was squaring to bunt on a 3-1 count.

On the next pitch, Willson Contreras popped up for the last out of the game. If Stephen Strasburg has the plague, maybe that’s proof that all pitchers should lick a rat before their next start. Or something.

6:13 p.m. - Stephen Strasburg is sick. Also, he’s exhibiting incredible pitching skill. After allowing a single up the middle to Jason Heyward, he promptly got Javier Baez to ground into a double play on the next pitch, then got Jon Lester to ground out to end the inning.

And, yes, that last part happened. In a tense 1-0 game, Jon Lester came into the game as a reliever and grounded into one of the game’s remaining 13 outs. If he was going to eat innings by design, where was the double switch? I’m not sure if it’s worth pulling Ben Zobrist, who has one of the only hits against Strasburg, to avoid a Lester at-bat, but it sure was weird to see him hitting for himself like the long reliever in a 12-0 game.

At the same time, Jon Lester got through the top of the sixth on 14 pitches, so maybe I should just shut up.

6:00 p.m. - Jon Lester is in the game now, and he got Bryce Harper to fly out to left field. Two notes:

Lester retired the side quietly, though, and we’re still watching a taut 1-0 game. In the words of Dick Ritchie ...

... this is going to be fun.

5:53 p.m. - In lieu of a game update, this is probably all you need:

When they made Stephen Strasburg’s changeup, they broke the mold.

5:41 p.m. - In the top of the fourth, the Nationals rallied furiously, but they couldn’t score. Anthony Rendon doubled to start the inning, and Michael Taylor walked with one out. A beautiful bunt from Strasburg — complete with impressive I’m-not-barfy hustle down the line — and a walk to Trea Turner loaded the bases for Jayson Werth.

Unfortunately for the Nationals, Laz Diaz got this called third strike correct:

If there’s an upside for the Nats, it’s that they’ve forced Jake Arrieta to work hard in the game. He’s already up to 90 pitches (and five walks), and it’s hard to see how he even makes it to the sixth inning.

5:28 p.m. - Meanwhile, here are some grown men cosplaying as old, dead Cubs players.

Did they just want to wear the classic bear-with-a-suggestive-silhouette logo? Possibly. And I can get behind that.

5:21 p.m. - One of my least favorite trends over the last few years has been the increased attention paid to “shutdown innings,” which is when a pitcher prevents the other team from scoring immediately after his team gets runs in the previous half-inning. It’s a silly causation-correlation mess, and it doesn’t really tell us anything.

Which is all a way to introduce that Stephen Strasburg had a shutdown inning in the bottom of the third, and it was absolutely sublime. He looked dominant, striking out the side on 12 pitches. Not bad for someone who wants to be lying down and binge-watching Deadliest Catch.

I might not believe in the shutdown inning, but Strasburg does.

5:13 p.m. - We have a run! With two outs and runners at first and third, Ryan Zimmerman chopped a ball to a charging Addison Russell, who booted the ball. It was ruled an error, and the Nationals lead 1-0.

Daniel Murphy came up next and struck out on three pitches, which is what happens when Jake Arrieta wants to bite through someone’s spine in anger and you’re unlucky enough to come up next.

5:07 p.m. - With a runner on third base and one out, home plate umpire Laz Diaz rung Jayson Werth up on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, pictured below:

It wasn’t pretty, and you can understand Werth’s Laz-ain’t-fair attitude in that situation.

Wait, come b

4:59 p.m. - The revolution is nigh. Join our feathered liberators or subject yourself to their vengeance.

4:55 p.m. - After the double, the Russell moonshot that was smited or smoten by angry weather gods, and a walk to Jason Heyward, Strasburg got Javier Baez to ground out weakly for the final out of the inning. After cruising through the first inning, Strasburg is laboring, just a bit.

We were one ill-placed fastball and/or a sunnier forecast away from Strasburg giving up multiple runs, which would have been some serious kerosene for the hot-take generator. As is, he’s pitched pretty well from a results-based perspective, which isn’t helping anyone with strong opinions.

Just think: If he allowed four soft singles in a row, the narrative would be so much different. This is such a dumb sport sometimes.

4:46 p.m. - Addison Russell hit a high, booming drive to left field that was beat down by the wind and caught on the warning track.

This might be a buntin’ kind of day.

4:45 p.m. - For the second straight game, Ben Zobrist broke up a Nationals no-hitter with a double. We have a hit!

Considering what we had heard about Strasburg before the game — IVs, chills, fever — he looks very Strasburgian. This is anti-climactic, except for the part where you get to watch Strasburg pitch, which is a lot of fun.

4:39 p.m. - This seems important.

Alas, we didn’t get to see what would have happened with a ground ball because Jake Arrieta struck out Michael Taylor with a runner on first to end the inning. We’re nine outs into the game, and there are no hits. We were promised hits.

And barf. At the moment, though, I’ll settle for some hits.

4:25 p.m. - If Strasburg is living down here, good luck.

4:21 p.m. - Two quick strikes from Strasburg, who didn’t barf at all. Were we lied to?

4:13 p.m. - Jake Arrieta quickly retires Nationals leadoff hitter Trea Turner, and we’re underway! There are a lot of lingering questions about this game, such as:

Arrieta, who is boring and not likely to barf, looks like he has superlative stuff right now, but the movement might be working against his ability to command and control the ball. After a line-drive out to Jayson Werth, he walked Bryce Harper before getting Ryan Zimmerman to line out sharply to right. Where the catcher’s mitt is before the pitch relative to where it catches the ball is something to keep an eye on.