What the 2019 team has done is remarkable.
The Nationals were 12 games under .500 in May but came back to win 93 games, then won the N.L. wild-card game. They trailed the Dodgers, 3-1, in the eighth inning of the decisive Game 5 of their division series, then tied the score and ultimately won with Kendrick’s grand slam in the 10th.
In the first two games of the N.L.C.S., starting pitchers Anibal Sanchez and Max Scherzer both took no-hitters into the seventh inning.
The series has been completely one-sided, and Game 3 was no different.
Strasburg gave up a hit to Marcell Ozuna in the second inning to eliminate the possibility of another no-hit bid, but it was the Nationals who did the scoring, pushing four runners across the plate in the third inning. It all began with a leadoff single by Victor Robles, who went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Strasburg.
Jack Flaherty, the Cardinals starter, struck out Trea Turner, and with two outs he was in position to get out of trouble. But he could not escape. Adam Eaton singled to center to score Robles, and then came the key play of the inning. Anthony Rendon reached down and hit a flare into shallow left field. Ozuna had a long way to run, but after sliding, he was in position to catch the ball.
Somehow, it went in and out of his mitt and rolled in front of him. With two outs, Eaton had been running when the bat hit the ball, and he scored, too. What made the play even worse: It enabled Kendrick to come to the plate with two men on base after Flaherty walked Juan Soto.
Kendrick went into the game with six R.B.I. in the postseason, four of them on his grand slam in Los Angeles. This time he drilled a 2-1 sinker from Flaherty that was on the outside corner, and sent it into the gap in right-center field. The ball traveled all the way to the wall, allowing Rendon and Soto to score as the fans roared.
It was the first time Flaherty had given up four runs in a start since July 2, a span of 19 games, including the playoffs. Flaherty went into Monday’s game with an 8-3 record and a 1.12 earned run average in his previous 18 starts.