Washington Nationals: Nats Break Records in Series Finale
The Washington Nationals salvaged part of a series against Miami. In the process, some Nats etched their name deeper in the history books.
The Washington Nationals avoided a sweep against Miami on Sunday. The Nats blanked the Marlins, 5-0, on the back of Stephen Strasburg’s spectacular pitching performance.
Strasburg racked up 11 strikeouts over eight innings in just 104 pitches. He allowed only two hits and two walks.
In his postgame press conference, manager Davey Martinez hinted that Strasburg wanted to go back in the game to finish what he started. But Martinez told him “Great Job” and he gave way to the bullpen.
“Everything was synching up pretty good,” Strasburg said after the game. “[I tried to] make some adjustments from the last outing, and it seemed to work.”
While Strasburg didn’t record a complete game, he only needed four innings to make Nationals history.
Yesterday, Strasburg passed Gio Gonzalez on the Nationals all-time innings pitch list. Strasburg now sits at 1,260.1 innings pitched in his career.
In addition to his innings record, Strasburg’s 11 strikeout outing marks the 41st time he stuck out ten or more batters in a game in his career.
Only five active pitchers have a higher total than Strasburg’s 41, and one of those five is Max Scherzer.
With this performance, three Nationals occupy the top six slots on the 2019 National League strikeout leaderboard. Scherzer is 1st with 44, Strasburg slots in third with 39, and Patrick Corbin rounds out the group in sixth place with 33.
However, Strasburg was not the only National to make a little bit of history.
On the offensive side, Ryan Zimmerman had a slump-busting performance. Coming into the game, Zimmerman was batting .192 with a .594 OPS and a 62 wRC+.
In Miami yesterday, Zimmerman swatted two home runs, tripling his total from one to three on the year.
This marks Zimmerman’s 26th career multi-home run game, a feat he last achieved on August 11, 2018.
dark. Next. Reunion with Gio Gonzalez?
While both Zimmerman and Strasburg got off to slow starts this season, they heated back up under the Miami sun (despite Zimmerman vocalizing his disapproval of the Marlins keeping the roof open). Now, it’s time for a trip to Colorado.