Detroit Tigers 8, Nats 3
Save us, Stephen Strasburg! No, seriously, kid. Your team needs a win again. The road was unkind to the Nats once more as they dropped five of six on an American League swing through Cleveland and Detroit. The only victory was Sunday’s game started by the 21-year-old fireballer. Can he do it again on Friday against the White Sox? Washington sure hopes so. Because this trip felt like vintage 2008 or 2009. Only Cristian Guzman and Adam Dunn managed more than one hit in Thursday afternoon’s getaway loss to Jeremy Bonderman (7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K) and the Tigers.
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Dunn was 2-for-4 and hit his 16th homer of the season. But by then the Nats were already down 7-1 in the seventh inning. Too little, too late. Guzman added an RBI single to the cause. Ian Desmond had a double. Washington also committed two more errors and let Detroit bang out a season-high 19 hits. Got to wonder how much rope starter Luis Atilano (5-4, 4.77 ERA) has left now. He gave up nine hits and a walk in 4 1/3 innings. Problem is J.D. Martin and the demoted Craig Stammen have had their issues too. And for all the talk of their pitching depth this season, an awful lot of it is still on the disabled list. Scott Olsen had a setback this week. Ross Detwiler is still making minor-league rehab starts. Chieng-Ming Wang might be a month away from making even that step. John Lannan got thumped in the Detroit series and so did Livan Hernandez. So um….Strasburg it is then.
Strasburg faces Baltimore native Gavin Floyd (2-7, 5.64 ERA) on Friday night. The Nats said that as of early afternoon on Thursday the game had not yet sold out – but team officials did emphasize that another large crowd is expected. So plan accordingly if you already have tickets. Get there early and don’t sit out the first three innings sitting on South Capitol Street because you decided to leave an hour before first pitch. That, by the way, is a 7:05 p.m. game as always. But the Nats also remind fans that Saturday’s game time against Chicago was changed to accommodate FOX television. That contest is now at 4:10 p.m. – not the originally scheduled 7:05 p.m. start. Because it’s a national television broadcast the game also will no longer be available on MASN. So enjoy your day off Bob Carpenter and Rob Dibble. No such luck for Charlie Slowes and Dave Jageler on the radio side at WFED 1500 AM
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