Strasburg leads Nationals to 3-1 Victory

Over the last few weeks, many around the baseball world have begun to question who will be the Nationals Game One starter come October. Last night, Stephen Strasburg made a strong case for the job with seven and two-thirds dominant innings in the Nationals 3-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners.

While it may still be a little early to be looking towards the October pitching rotation with a month left to play, Strasburg’s outing may prove to be huge for his psyche down this final stretch of the season.

The Nationals’ ace overpowered Seattle’s hitters with fastballs consistently in the mid 90’s, and followed them up with devastating changeups that dipped out of the strike zone just has the batters started their swing. He was able to strike out eight batters over the course of the night, and retired 9/10 hitters he faced.

The night ended earlier than Strasburg would’ve wanted after he surrendered a solo shot to Dustin Ackley in the bottom of the eight, but he had done the job the Nationals needed him to do.

The Nationals bats were held to just two extra base hits after having seven the night before, but their three runs were enough on this night.

The biggest blow of the game to Roenis Elis, the Mariners starting pitcher, came in the first inning. Denard Span led off with a fly ball to left center that was dropped upon a collision between left fielder Dustin Ackley and recently acquired center fielder Austin Jackson.