Nationals 6, Blue Jays 2
It was a perfect road trip. No, really. The Nationals just had a perfect road trip. 6-0. Sweeps of both the Red Sox and the Blue Jays, two teams from the fearsome American League East. It’s the first time Washington has gone 6-0 on a single road trip since moving here from Montreal in 2005. Even when they were the Expos that hadn’t happened since July 4-10, 1988. It’s been a while, folks.
Stephen Strasburg went the more efficient route on Wednesday in a 6-2 win at Toronto. The Nats’ ace tossed six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts and one walk. His ERA is down to 2.45. He is the first person in the majors to reach 100 strikeouts on the season. He had struck out 13 batters on 119 pitches last Friday in Boston. Strasburg was pulled with a cut on his finger, according to manager Davey Johnson on MASN. He threw 89 pitches against the Blue Jays.
Give credit to Tyler Moore. Given a chance to play his natural position at first base to give teammate Adam LaRoche a rare day off, Moore responded with two home runs, a double and five RBI. The 25-year-old rookie is making his case to stick around for a while. Those were his first big-league homers, his first RBI and that second-inning ground-rule double was only his second extra-base hit in two stints with Washington.
This 38-23 start is the best in franchise history through 61 games. Their lead in the N.L. East – before Wednesday’s night games – is 4 ½ games. The inaugural edition of the Nats in 2005 used a hot streak in June to climb 19 games over .500 (50-31) on July 3 that season and built its lead to 5 ½ games – the largest since moving to the District – but that club faded in the second half and finished 81-81. The current club is a shocking 11 games ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies (29-34) in the loss column and 10 overall.
Ian Desmond also homered for the Nats on Wednesday. Bryce Harper was 1-for-5 with a double. Craig Stammen pitched two innings of relief with two hits allowed and a walk and Brad Lidge gave closer Tyler Clippard a rest with a scoreless ninth inning.
Next up: The New York Yankees (36-25). Can’t ask for much more than that. The Yankees have pulled into first place in the American League East and the two teams should draw three big crowds to Nationals Park over the weekend.
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