HOUSTON -- Juan Soto and the Washington Nationals quickly derailed the Cole express.
A 20-year-old prodigy with a passion for the big moment, Soto homered onto the train tracks high above the left-field wall and hit a two-run double as the Nationals tagged Gerrit Cole and the Houston Astros 5-4 on Tuesday night in the World Series opener.
"After the first at-bat, I just said, 'It's another baseball game,' " Soto said. "In the first at-bat, I'm not going to lie, I was a little bit shaking in my legs."
Not even a history-making home run by postseason star George Springer -- and another drive that nearly tied it in the eighth inning -- could deter Washington.
Ryan Zimmerman also homered to back Max Scherzer and boost the wild-card Nationals in their first World Series appearance.
"They waited a long time," Nationals Manager Dave Martinez said.
Otherworldly almost all season, Cole looked downright ordinary. His 19-game winning streak that stretched back 25 starts to May was done by the end of the night.
"I didn't have my A-game tonight," Cole said.
Not what Cole or anyone else at Minute Maid Park expected, especially after he led the majors in strikeouts, topped the American League in ERA and finished second in the big leagues in wins to teammate Justin Verlander.
"I think he's been so good for so long that there builds this thought of invincibility and that it's impossible to beat him," Astros Manager AJ Hinch said. "So when it happens, it is a surprise to all of us because we've watched for months this guy completely dominate the opposition."
Soto finished with three hits and a stolen base. Three days shy of his 21st birthday, the young left fielder also snared Michael Brantley's late try for a tying hit.
The MVP when Houston won its first crown in 2017, Springer set a record by connecting in his fifth consecutive World Series game to make it 5-3 in the seventh. But reliever Daniel Hudson threw a fastball past rookie Yordan Alvarez with the bases loaded to end the inning.
In the eighth, Springer put a charge into a drive to deep right-center field, and it appeared as though he might've hit a tying, two-run home run. Springer took a couple of hops out of the batter's box to watch, and had to settle for an RBI double when the ball glanced off the glove of a leaping Adam Eaton at the fence.
Heavily favored at the start, the 107-win Astros will try to get even tonight when Verlander faces Stephen Strasburg in another matchup of aces.
Scherzer slipped in and out of trouble for five innings. But every time the stadium got rollicking, he found a way to get out of trouble.
Projected Game 4 starter Patrick Corbin threw a scoreless sixth for the Nationals. Springer connected off Tanner Rainey for his 14th career postseason home run before Hudson fanned Alvarez on three pitches.
Hudson retired Jose Altuve, and Sean Doolittle got Brantley to strand Springer at second in the eighth. Doolittle then closed for a save to give the Nationals their seventh consecutive victory and 17th in 19 games dating to their September playoff run.
The Nats had a week off after sweeping St. Louis in the NL Championship Series, and easily answered any worries about whether the layoff would leave them rusty.
Leading the way was Soto, whose eighth-inning hit in the wild-card win over Milwaukee sent the Nationals on their path.
Relentless at the plate, he's already become one of those rare players -- like Springer -- who seems to turn pressure into production.
"I don't even look at him as young until you see his face. He's got kind of the 'it' factor," Hinch said. "He's got the twitch. He's got fast hands. He's got no fear."
Soto looked overmatched when he fanned on Cole's 99 mph heater in the first inning. Turned out Soto -- the third-youngest player to bat cleanup in a World Series game after Ty Cobb (1907) and Miguel Cabrera (2003) -- was just getting warmed up.
Soto justified his place in the four-spot, launching a leadoff drive in the fourth onto the train tracks to make it 2-2. He became the fourth-youngest player to homer in the Series, behind Andruw Jones, Cabrera and Mickey Mantle.
World Series glance
Best-of-7; x-if necessary
All games televised on Fox
TUESDAY'S GAME
Washington 5, Houston 4
Washington leads series 1-0
TODAY'S GAME All times Central
Washington (Strasburg 18-6) at Houston (Verlander 21-6), 7:07 p.m.
FRIDAY'S GAME
Houston (Greinke 8-1) at Washington (TBA), 7:07 p.m.
SATURDAY'S GAME
Houston at Washington, 7:07 p.m.
SUNDAY'S GAME
x-Houston at Washington, 7:07 p.m.
TUESDAY, OCT. 27
x-Washington at Houston, 7:07 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 28
x-Washington at Houston, 7:07 p.m.
Sports on 10/23/2019