Nats 5, Pittsburgh Pirates 2
These are the kinds of things you miss when your city doesn’t have a baseball team of its own for over three decades. There have been a few wonderful moments since baseball returned to the District. There was that memorable first night at RFK Stadium in 2005 when Livan Hernandez threw the first pitch in a Major League Baseball game here since 1971. That same season saw a 10-game winning streak and a team in playoff contention well into September. There was the night John Patterson struck out 13 Dodgers on Aug. 4, 2005, the crowd exploding after the final out. And, of course, Ryan Zimmerman has sent Nats fans home happy time and time again with game-winning heroics, including the first game ever played at Nationals Park.
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But Stephen Strasburg’s major-league debut was at a different level. Check out our game story here. The crowd chanted his name as he walked from the bullpen after warm-ups. They rose to their feet the first time he had two strikes on a Pirates batter – just like they do in the postseason in cities lucky enough to witness such a phenomenon. Around here playoff baseball is like a unicorn or Bigfoot. If I closed my eyes in the seventh inning I would have sworn I was in Philadelphia or St. Louis or Boston or Detroit or New York as the crowd chanted “Steph-en Stras-burg” while he mowed down one batter after another in the sixth and seventh. The final punch out – a 99 mile-per-hour fastball blown past Andy LaRoche – about blew the big ballpark on South Capitol off its foundation.
Strasburg struck out 14 batters, one shy of the major-league record for a debut start. He didn’t walk a batter. The home run hit off him came on a good change-up, according to several Nats players. His last four fastballs registered 98, 98, 99 and 99 on the park’s radar gun. He hit 100 a handful of times and then would inevitably come right back with an 82 mile-per-hour curveball that breaks right to left across the plate. His change-up is a tumbler that dives at the last second and sometimes registers as high as 91. Of Strasburg’s 94 pitches, 65 of them went for strikes. Check out reaction from the Pirates here.
All in all, just an amazing night. The Nats improved to just 28-31 with the win and probably still have too many holes to fight their way back into playoff contention. But they have an ace now – someone to anchor their rotation and let the other pitchers take their proper place in the rotation. They put on a show for 40,000 fans, many of whom will come back to the ballpark later this summer – maybe even on days when someone else is on the mound. Here’ a video I did with Washington Examiner columnist Rick Snider afterwards. Colleague Kevin Dunleavy got the fans’ reaction to Strasburg’s debut at Nationals Parl – and went into the Pirates’ locker room postgame for their take.
Follow me on Twitter @bmcnally14
