Sizzling Strasburg strikes out 11, Zimmerman hits 2 homers in win
MIAMI — Stephen Strasburg’s final pitch hummed in at 94 mph, past Rosell Herrera’s waving bat and into Kurt Suzuki’s waiting mitt. Herrera dropped his head in frustration and stared into the dirt. Strasburg watched for a moment, skipped once and, eyes now fixed straight ahead, headed toward the visitors dugout with the afternoon resting on his fingertips.
That happened a lot insideMarlinsPark on Sunday, when theWashington Nationals rode Strasburg to a 5-0 win over the Miami Marlins. The 30-year-old righty stuffed 11 strikeouts into eight scoreless innings. He gave up just two hits. He threw 104 pitches and, while doing so, lifted a team that had dropped back-to-back games to a club it should have picked on all weekend.
Thatwas the effect ofWashington’s best pitching performance of the season, from one of the three arms it’ll lean on nowand into the fall. Strasburg’s effort was backed by two home runs from Ryan Zimmerman and a third crushed by Brian Dozier. And the Nationals, everything considered, are 10-10 as they head to Denver for a three-game set with the Colorado Rockies startingMonday.
“Outstanding,” manager DaveMartinez said of Strasburg. “That’s the word to describe what he did today. Unbelievable pick-me-up.”
The first out of the bottom of the second looked like any other, with a Miguel Rojas grounder skipping towardWilmer Difo at short. But that ball carried a bit of history as it nestled into Zimmerman’s glove ahead of Rojas. It made Strasburg the Nationals’ all-time leader in innings pitched, with 1,2532⁄ 3. He passed Gio Gonzalez, who departed in a trade in August, and that provided reminder of just howlong Strasburg’s been doing this.
Strasburg may have received some help early, as a shadow crept over the first base line and settled halfway between the mound and home plate. Strasburg’s pitches started under the midday sun and, as they neared the plate, went from white to a dull gray. They also spun and broke and tailed, depending on what he threw, and the strikeouts added up fast.
That led Strasburg to carve through the Marlins’ lineup for the first four innings. Miami starter Trevor Richards did the same until, in the fourth, Zimmerman lifted his change-up beyond the left-field wall. Zimmerman brought a seasonlong slump into the game, as hewas hitting .182 in 65 plate appearances. But he battled with Richards for eight pitches, ran the count full and stalked a low pitch for his second homer of the season.
Hitters expressed frustration with the open roof after the game.
“It’s an enormous factor. It’s awful. I don’t understand why you would play a game like that if you don’t have to,” Zimmerman said before dipping into his sarcasm. “But I hope the fans enjoyed the open-air experience. It was great for us. Awesome.”
Strasburg struck out the side in the fifth, and CurtisGranderson came in to start the sixth, givinghim41careergameswith10or more strikeouts. His fastball stayed in the mid-90s for the later innings and his off-speed stayed sharp. And he got incremental run support on top of Zimmerman’shomerun, first onaHowieKendrick sacrifice fly in the sixth and then from Brian Dozier’s solo shot in the seventh.
That three-run cushion grew in the ninth with Zimmerman’s second homer and Difo singling in Suzuki. TheNationals have tried to right their bullpen in many ways this year — crossing their fingers, shifting roles, shuttling in pitchers from Fresno, California, to see whether anyone sticks. Yet this was a new attempt to smooth a problem that’s plagued them since OpeningDay onMarch 28.
Strasburg hung eight zeros on the scoreboard and delivered the ball directly to the ninth in a tight game turned lopsided. Kyle Barraclough, coming off a rare two days of rest, got two quick outs and then issued two walks. Closer Sean Doolittlecameinand finished it off. It’s not a sustainable formula. Itwon’tbe anoption most games. But it came right as the Nationals really needed it.