Florida hits 7 doubles, 6 off Strasburg
It was far from a triumphant return. Nationals rookie pitcher Stephen Strasburg had not pitched in 20 days, spending time on the 15-day disabled list with a sore right shoulder, and that rust showed itself on Tuesday night against the Florida Marlins.
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Strasburg failed to make it out of the fifth inning for the first time in his 10 big-league starts and Florida battered him for six doubles and a home run in an ugly 8-2 loss before 25,939 at Nationals Park. It was the shortest outing of Strasburg’s brief career with Washington and – on a day where temperatures reached the upper 90s in the District – he also pitched before the smallest home crowd yet for one of his starts.
Dan Uggla hit a two-run home run in the first inning and doubled home two more runs off Strasburg in the third. Meanwhile, Hanley Ramirez was 3-for-4 with three doubles and three runs scored. Wes Helms also had a two-run single for the Marlins.
» Washington pitcher Stephen Strasburg last started a game on July 21 against Cincinnati.
» Strasburg was scratched moments before a scheduled start against the Atlanta Braves on July 27 at Nationals Park because of right shoulder soreness.
» The Nats honored Andre Dawson before the game. The former Montreal Expos outfielder was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame last month.Beanballs blogNats Postgame – Strasburg reactionNats honor Dawson — is that what’s best for the franchise?
“I didn’t know where [the ball] was going,” Strasburg said. “It happens. It was being on the [disabled list] and coming back and maybe expecting a little too much out of myself. It kind of got in my head a little bit.”
The Nats scored twice against Florida starter Anibal Sanchez (9-7, 3.33 ERA), who lasted 6 2/3 innings with seven strikeouts in a strong performance. Neither of those runs was earned – though one of the two Florida errors that led to Washington’s runs was charged to Sanchez himself. In his career against the Nats Sanchez is now 4-0 with a 2.66 ERA in 11 starts.
“[Sanchez] is always tough,” said Washington manager Jim Riggleman. “You look at his numbers that he’s gone through for the season and I think he’s given up very few home runs. He’s got a lot of innings, less hits than innings pitched. In today’s world you don’t see a lot of starters in that situation.”
The Nats (49-64) have now lost three games in a row and tied their season-low at 15 games under .500. Ivan Rodriguez had two hits and Ryan Zimmerman doubled. Washington scored its first run on an error by Helms at third base after a grounder from Ian Desmond, who later drove in a run on a fielder’s-choice grounder in the seventh.
The Nats had one last chance to get back into the game in that seventh inning with the bases loaded and the run already in. But left-handed specialist Will Ohman got clean-up batter Adam Dunn to sky out to the warning track in left field for the final out.
Burke Badenhop pitched two scoreless innings in relief for Florida to close out the game. Miguel Batista, Craig Stammen and Doug Slaten all pitched in relief of Strasburg (5-3, 3.07 ERA) once the game got out of hand in the fifth inning. The 22-year-old said he felt fine physically. He reported no unusual pain in the shoulder afterwards, crediting a new program developed with head trainer Lee Kuntz to employ in between starts. But as good as that right arm felt – his velocity was in the upper 90s early before leveling off into the mid-90s by the fourth inning – for the first time in 10 games Strasburg just didn’t have an answer when things went against him.
“The good pitchers find a way to get through it with minimal damage,” Strasburg said. “That’s something I’ve got to work on because this is the first time in my relatively short career where not one pitch felt like I controlled it. Just going to chalk it up to a learning experience.”
