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Washington Nationals: Stephen Strasburg continues to dominate Marlins

By Blake Finney

MIAMI, FL - MAY 27: Pedro Severino #29 of the Washington Nationals talks with pitcher Stephen Strasburg #37 during the second inning of the game against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park on May 27, 2018 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Eric Espada/Getty Images)
MIAMI, FL - MAY 27: Pedro Severino #29 of the Washington Nationals talks with pitcher Stephen Strasburg #37 during the second inning of the game against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park on May 27, 2018 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Eric Espada/Getty Images) /
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The Washington Nationals were able to wrap up a three-game sweep of the Miami Marlins on Sunday. Doing so behind a dominant Stephen Strasburg showing.

On Sunday the Washington Nationals wrapped up a sweep against the Miami Marlins with a 5-2 victory. They got a lights out outing from their second ace, Stephen Strasburg, who continues to dominate the fish.

He could only go five innings, due to his high pitch count, but by that point the Nats had given him enough run support for a victory. He also managed to extend his scoreless inning streak against the Marlins to 23 innings.

Stephen Strasburg has also won six straight decisions against the fish, and clearly loves facing them. Probably even more so after Derek Jeter’s fire-sale in the off-season too.

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The right-hander lowered his season ERA to just 3.13 and looks be getting into a groove lately. In the month of May he’s 4-1 with a 2.51 ERA and 40 Ks in 32.1 innings. The Nats can look forward to more of the same, as he usually gets better throughout the season.

Harper hits one to the moon

After a poor four strikeout game yesterday, Bryce Harper came back with vengeance on Sunday. In the sixth inning, facing Jarlin Garcia he hit a missile to right field for a two-run homer.

The 108 mph blast was his National League leading 16th of the season, trailing only Mookie Betts and Mike Trout for the MLB lead. It’s mightily impressive that even with his batting average struggles, he’s a permanent long ball threat.

Harper’s BABIP is still at a paltry .210 level right now, so the average concerns should resolve themselves over time. But if there’s any concern, it’s the spike in strikeouts that he’s had lately. 18 Ks in the last 11 games is downright awful, and he’ll need to turn that around to get back to the superstar we all know.

Feliz Día de la Madre

During the game, Dan Kolko of MASN revealed that Wilmer Difo told him it was Mother’s Day in the Dominican Republic. And the Dominican contingent on the Nationals responded by going a combined 4 for 11 with a couple of runs.

Difo, Pedro Severino and Juan Soto are establishing themselves among the young foundation of this team. They should continue to see regular playing time, at the very least until some of the injured stars come back.

Their moms will be proud of their combined performance in this game and so far in the 2018 season. So as they say in the Dominican, Feliz Día de la Madre (Happy Mother’s Day!).

Next: P-Nats pitcher Wil Crowe Interview

Now the Washington Nationals will face their beltway rival Baltimore Orioles in a three-game series starting Monday. They’ll be looking to build on their incredible month against the team bottom of the AL East.

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