Extra day off helps ace in stellar performance against Braves
If Saturday’s dominance is what the Washington Nationals can expect from Stephen Strasburg when he gets six days’ rest, they might have stumbled upon an effective innings-reduction plan.
In a 2-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves before 41,042 at Nationals Park, Strasburg had his most efficient outing this season. In seven innings, the right-hander threw 90 pitches, allowed four hits, walked none and struck out nine to improve to 6-1.
With an off-day Thursday and a rainout Friday, Strasburg got some extra recovery time, which was bad news for Atlanta (28-25). In three career starts with six days’ rest, Strasburg has pitched 21 innings; allowed 13 hits, three walks and one earned run; and fanned 25.
The victory snapped the Nationals’ three-game losing streak and made for a happy season debut for right fielder Michael Morse, who grounded out four times to short. Washington (30-21) remains in first place in the National League East, a game in front of the surging Miami Marlins (30-23) and New York Mets (30-23).
It was another tidy, errorless game for the Nats that required just 2 hours, 35 minutes. Third baseman Ryan Zimmerman contributed stellar plays on two slow rollers, slinging the ball across his body to throw out runners at first base.
Catcher Jesus Flores supplied all the offense the Nationals needed with a fifth-inning solo home run, his second of the year, into the Braves’ bullpen in left-center. It made a loser of Braves right-hander Brandon Beachy (5-4), whom the Nats beat for the second time in seven days even though he has a sparkling 1.87 ERA.
Washington’s second run came in the seventh inning as Danny Espinosa and Flores drew walks and Xavier Nady delivered a pinch-hit double to the right-field corner. Atlanta escaped further damage as lefty reliever Jonny Venters struck out Steve Lombardozzi and induced a ground out from Bryce Harper.
It was a trouble-free start for Strasburg. The only inning the Braves put two runners on base against him was the third when slap hitters Jose Costanza and Michael Bourn got back-to-back opposite-field hits with two out. But the Braves’ best hitter, Martin Prado, followed with a grounder to short.
The only other base runners against Strasburg, Jason Heyward and Brian McCann, led off the fifth and seventh innings, respectively, with singles but were erased by double-play grounders to shortstop Ian Desmond.
After Strasburg departed, Sean Burnett worked out of a two-on, two-out jam in the eighth by getting Bourn to fly out down the left-field line to Nady. In the ninth, Tyler Clippard set down Atlanta in order, striking out the final two batters, including dangerous Dan Uggla to end the game.
The heroics of Flores came on a day when Nats manager Davey Johnson revealed that the knee injury suffered by starting catcher Wilson Ramos was more serious than originally believed. In surgery Friday, doctors repaired a torn meniscus but decided to postpone surgery to the ACL.
“It’s pretty obvious he’s done for the year,” Johnson said. “That’s sad news.”
