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CHICAGO (AP) — The celebration was under way by the time David Bote flung his helmet high into the air on his way home.Teammates were already jumping up and down Brian Goodwin Jersey , ready to mob him at the plate. The fans were in a frenzy, too.Nothing like a game-ending grand slam to get the festivities started.A pinch-hitting Bote smashed one against Ryan Madson with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the Chicago Cubs to a 4-3 victory over the Washington Nationals on Sunday night.Bote’s long drive to center field came after dominant starts by Washington’s Max Scherzer and Chicago’s Cole Hamels.Madson (2-5) entered with a 3-0 lead to start the ninth and quickly ran into trouble.He gave up an infield single to Jason Heyward with one out and hit Albert Almora with a pitch. Madson then retired Kyle Schwarber on a foul pop before hitting Contreras to load the bases.With a 2-2 count, Bote drove a knee-high fastball well beyond the center-field wall, setting off quite a scene.Teammates ripped off his jersey at the plate. He also had a cooler emptied on him as he gave an interview on the field while fans chanted “Bote! Bote!”“It’s magical,” he said. “It’s incredible. It’s an unbelievable feeling. It couldn’t happen to a better team, a better group of people in that clubhouse. And I’m so blessed and honored to be part of it.”There was more after he finished his postgame interview with reporters. As he walked back into the clubhouse, he got a quick hug from none other than noted Cubs fan Bill Murray, who asked, “Is this the hero?”Bote has made quite an impression while bouncing back and forth between the minors as a rookie. He is batting .329 with three homers in 34 games for the Cubs, with Kris Bryant battling injuries this season.His big slam helped Chicago take two of three in the first meeting between these teams since the Cubs beat Washington in the NL Division Series. It also made a winner of Justin Wilson (4-3), who got the final two outs in the ninth.Madson said a recurring back issue flared up when he was warming up, causing pain going down his right leg.“Sometimes it will shoot, sometimes it won’t,” he said. “That’s really the truth of the matter. Just trying to fight through it. Not everybody feels 100 percent all the time, but this one’s pretty big. So I’ll lose basically position, control over the ball.”Scherzer tossed three-hit ball over seven innings. The three-time Cy Young Award winner struck out 11 and walked one.But the Nationals managed just three hits — one off Hamels. He gave up one run in seven innings, struck out nine and walked one in his third start since Chicago acquired him from Texas.The only hit he allowed was Daniel Murphy’s single in the second to put runners on first and third. Mark Reynolds then drove in Ryan Zimmerman with a sacrifice fly.The Nationals did not get another hit until Trea Turner tripled against Brandon Kintzler, sparking a two-run ninth.A-ROD, MADDON MAKE PEACECubs manager Joe Maddon and ESPN analyst Alex Rodriguez insisted they made peace over the former slugger’s comments criticizing pitcher Yu Darvish last month.Maddon said they had a “very open and candid” conversation before the game. Rodriguez also said it was “very positive.”The two were at odds after Rodriguez accused Darvish — sidelined since May 20 because of triceps and elbow injuries — of causing a rift in the clubhouse by rehabbing with the team rather than at the Cubs’ facility in Arizona. Maddon fired back at the time http://www.nationalsfanproshop.com/authentic-matt-adams-jersey , and he made it clear again Sunday that he will protect his players.Rodriguez, who took two questions from reporters before sprinting away, seemed to have no regrets.“What’s great about this is we all have the same interests — to grow the game, to highlight stories as objectively as we can,” he said.Both he and Maddon said they planned to have drinks together at some point.TRAINER’S ROOMNationals: The Nationals held 3B Anthony Rendon out of the lineup for the second straight game because of a sore left wrist, though he entered in the bottom of the ninth. … Closer Sean Doolittle (left toe inflammation) hopes to start throwing off the mound in the next day or two. He has not pitched since July 6.Cubs: The Cubs activated RHP Anthony Bass (right mid-thoracic strain) and assigned him to Triple-A Iowa after he cleared waivers.UP NEXTNationals: Washington opens a four-game series at surging St. Louis, with LHP Tommy Milone (1-1, 5.50 ERA) starting for the Nationals and RHP Miles Mikolas (12-3, 2.74) pitching for the Cardinals.Cubs: Send LHP José Quintana (10-8, 4.28) to the mound when they open a two-game series against Milwaukee on Tuesday. Sean M. Haffey/Getty ImagesLOS ANGELES鈥?There are constant reminders that 22-year-old Boston Red Sox third baseman Rafael Deversis young.Acne scars dot his face. He likes wearing two gold chains and bright green Air Max 90s. Blond tips sometimes poke out of his baseball cap with a haircut that's a cousin of Odell Beckham Jr.'s locks. Even his youthful appearance, which sometimes makes him look like a middle-schooler who sneaked onto the field in full uniform, has led Red Sox fans on social media to dub him their "young son."In fact, Devers鈥攚ho just turned 22 on Wednesday鈥攊s the youngest player on either World Series roster.So Saturday night, when Devers stepped up to the plate in the ninth inning with the game tied 4-4 and Brock Holt on second base representing the go-ahead run, all the Red Sox could hope for was that his age didn't show."You're hoping and praying like hell that he's not going to try to hit it nine miles out of Dodger Stadium," assistant hitting coach Andy Barkett said.With a 2-0 count versus Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Dylan Floro, Devers drove an 86 mph changeup into center field for an RBI single, helping the Red Sox grasp a 5-4 lead. It was one they would not relinquish in a 9-6 victory in Game 4 en route to a 3-1 lead in the 2018 World Series.Bleacher Report MLB BR_MLBRafael Devers takes back the lead for Red Sox (via FOXSports)CkQUZIidSlIt was just the latest clutch moment for a player who had already entered the postseason record bookwith RBI in eight straight games, matching Lou Gehrig Brandon Kintzler Jersey , Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Howard. He's building a historic October resume in just his second trip."It was a really important moment for our team and a really important moment in my career," Devers said in Spanish after the game. "It was an opportunity that I had, and I took advantage of it."It was a moment months in the making, dating back to his stint on the disabled list with left shoulder discomfort amid a slump at the plate.While Devers torched from the left side of the plate for most of the first half, hitting 14 homers and 20 doubles and knocking in 48 runners before the All-Star break, the league adjusted. He soon found himself slumping, hitting just .214 in July before joining the disabled list at the end of the month.Suddenly, Devers found time to take a step back and breathe. He had time to make adjustments and re-evaluate his approach at the plate. It's a lesson every young player has to learn at some point: When the league adjusts to you, you need to adjust back."He hit a tailspin and started searching," Red Sox hitting coach Tim Hyers said. "He had the injury, wasn't in the lineup as much, and all of a sudden I saw him go to work and get into fundamentals. He went back to basics with his work. I saw him slow the game down and use the whole field."Throughout the season, Devers and the Red Sox's coaching staff continued to build trust, a direct result of the clubhouse culturemanager Alex Cora brought in at the beginning of the season.When Devers saw his playing time diminish near the end of the season, Cora, Hyers and Barkett made sure to let him know he was still an integral part of the team, continuing to put him in positions to succeed through pinch-hitting opportunities and the occasional start.It prepared him for a night like Game 4, when Cora decided to start Eduardo Nunez over him at third base. As the innings ticked on, Devers prepared himself to pinch-hit Tanner Roark Jersey , to contribute whenever the team might need him.Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images"I was ready for my moment to come, whenever that may be," Devers said. "Being in the National League, you've got to be ready from the first inning with obviously the pitchers hitting. So I just wanted to be ready for whatever the situation was."With the righty Floro in the game, Cora and Barkett figured that Devers was the best matchup off the bench. Barkett went over the game plan, reminding him of the Dodgers reliever's weaknesses and what his plan should be when he stepped to the plate."Throughout this season, he's grown up a lot. Talking to him in April about game-planning was difficult," Barkett said. "Talking about game-planning in October is easy. He had a plan up there. He knew what the pitcher had. He did his work to prepare, and he was ready."Devers' propensity to come up in the clutch has not gone unnoticed among the Red Sox. It's something that he has done consistently through this postseason run. In Game 5 against the Houston Astros, he hit a three-run homer that set up a 4-1 victory to clinch the American League pennant. In Game 4 Saturday, after his huge hit, his big-time throw on a grounder behind third base beat Manny Machado to first to stifle L.A.'s ninth-inning comeback rally.In 10 games this postseason, Devers has nine RBI, and he has 14 RBI total in 14 career postseason games. After his heroics Saturday, hebecame the youngest player with a go-ahead RBI in the ninth inning or later since Edgar Renteria's walk-off single in Game 7 of the 1997 World Series, per ESPN StatsInfo.In less than two full seasons in the big leagues, Devers has become one of the best hitters in high-leverage situations, hitting .300/.364/.400 this postseason alone."The kid is gifted," Barkett said. "He's got gifted eyes and gifted hands. He's strong Khris Davis Jersey , aggressive and powerful. That's what gives him the edge [in high-leverage situations]."Without the slump, without three stints on the disabled list, without the time to slow things down and rededicate himself to fixing the fundamentals of his swing, the opportunity may have ended differently.For many, the situationDevers found himself in may have been overwhelming. But when Barkett looked over at him, he saw a calm kid whowasn't looking to be a hero.Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images"All we needed was a knock up the middle, and to his credit, on this stage, to be able to compose himself and get a line-drive base hit was pretty impressive," Barkett said.Everything Devers went through this season, from slumps swinging at anything near the plate to changes he made after landing on the disabled list, led to his moment.It ensured that instead of trying to hit a ball nine miles out of Dodger Stadium, he found his pitch and slammed one up the middle for the go-ahead run, setting up his team to win its ninth World Series title."I was grateful to have that opportunity," Devers said. "I was ready."