Washington Nationals Recap: Stephen Strasburg Steals The Show In 6-1 Win Over Rockies
By Ricky Keeler
Tonight’s Washington Nationals game was all about the return of Stephen Strasburg (6-5, 4.76 ERA) to the starting rotation. Strasburg was pitching for the first time since July 4, when he left that start early due to a left oblique strain. Tonight, the 27-year-old dominated both on the mound and at the plate. He struck out 12 batters over seven innings and had three singles as the Nats defeated the Colorado Rockies, 6-1. With the win, the Nationals are now 1.5 games back in the NL East due to the Mets losing to the Rays.
The Nats got on the board first in this game in the bottom of the second inning. Clint Robinson reached on an infield single and Ian Desmond drew a walk with one out. Both of them would end up scoring when Wilson Ramos hit a two-run double to right center to give Washington a 2-0 lead against Rockies’ starter, Eddie Butler (3-9, 5.50). The Nats would add on another run in the third when Desmond had a RBI of his own on a base hit to center that scored Danny Espinosa.
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Through the first three innings, Strasburg had only given up two doubles to Charlie Blackmon. However, in the fourth, the Rockies scored their only run of the game. With one out, Nolan Arenado took a 95 mile per hour fastball and hit it over the wall in left center for a solo shot. Arenado’s 27th of the season cut the Nats lead to 3-1, but it was the last hit Strasburg would give up.
The Nationals would get that run back in the bottom of the fifth. After a one out walk by Bryce Harper, Ryan Zimmerman hit a double to left field to drive in Harper and extend the lead to 4-1.
That would be plenty of runs for Strasburg as he was dominant on the mound. In addition to going 3-for-3 at the plate, Strasburg went seven innings, gave up one run on three hits, struck out 12, and did not walk a batter on 91 pitches (65 strikes) in the win.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Nats tacked on two more insurance runs. Espinosa walked and Harper hit a single off the wall in right to begin the inning against Christian Friedrich. Then, Zimmerman would collect his second RBI of the game when he hit a base hit to center that drove in Espinosa. While Clint Robinson would ground into a double play right after Zimmerman’s hit, Harper would come around to score to make it 6-1, Nats.
With Casey Janssen and Drew Storen not available tonight (according to Matt Williams), Blake Treinen and Matt Thornton pitched the final two innings and both were excellent. The two of them did not give up a hit and combined to strike out three batters.
Next Game: The Washington Nationals (57-52) will wrap up their three game series against the Colorado Rockies (46-62) tomorrow afternoon at Nats Park. You can catch the game on MASN at 1:35 PM ET. Yohan Flande (2-1, 3.54 ERA) gets the start for the Rockies against Max Scherzer (11-8, 2.31) for the Nationals.