The Nationals inked starter Patrick Corbin, now 30 years old, to a six-year, $140 million contract last December for starts like tonight’s: in the postseason, against tough offenses like the Dodgers’.
Corbin, however, was shaky in the first inning of his first career playoff start. The lefty walked A.J. Pollock to begin the bottom of the first inning. Then, after striking out David Freese and Justin Turner, Corbin issued consecutive walks to Cody Bellinger, Chris Taylor, and Max Muncy to force in a run. Corbin saw his way out of trouble by getting Corey Seager to ground out to end the inning.
All things considered, it could have been worse. Corbin should feel fortunate to have given up only one run after walking four batters in an inning -- something he had never done before tonight.
Corbin appeared to right his ship in the second inning. He racked up another pair of strikeouts, working around a fielding error by first baseman Howie Kendrick.
