Stephen Strasburg‘s dominant performance against the San Diego Padres on Thursday night may be because he got a good night sleep in his own bed! The team bus left L.A. and headed south to San Diego, where Stephen Strasburg was born 25 years ago. The Nats came off a tough road trip in L.A., but for four games they get to square off against one of the worst teams in the NL: the San Diego Padres.
Stras was throwing bullets at the Padres’ hitters. His changeup was really dirty and fooled a lot of Padres hitters. #37 was showing his stuff like he used to have. The Nats won it, 6-2. Stras got his second win, his first coming on Opening Day. I was glad to see him pitch over 120 pitches and go into the 8th inning for the first time in his MLB career. Here are some game highlights, since I know most of you didn’t stay up late for the West Coast game.
- In the 4th inning, Edinson Volquez gave up a 2-run shot by Adam LaRoche. ADAM BOMB! Ryan Zimmerman scores. It went into the kiddie play area. Won’t that be a fun place to sit? Nats 2-0
- In the fifth inning, Steve Lombardozzi gets a base hit to LF Chris Denorfia. Kurt Suzuki scores. This is all the Nats need to do to win games…little base hits that advance the runners from scoring position. Nats 3-0
- In the same inning, Ryan Zimmerman singles to Alexi Amarista in CF. Span and Lombo score. This is clutch with 2 outs. It gave Stras and the bullpen some comfort zone. Nats 5-0
- Bottom of the 5th: Everth Cabrera grounds out to Adam LaRoche, but Jedd Gyorko scores to put the Padres on the board. This was a dangerous inning. Ryan Zimmerman had a throwing error that loaded the bases. This is exactly the same situation that got Strasburg all messed up in his last go against the Cubs. But he got out of the inning only giving up 1 run. Way to go! Nats 5-1
- Bottom of the 6th: Chris Denorfia flies out to Roger Bernadina to score Chase Headley. Nats 5-2
- Top of the 7th: Bryce Harper jacks one deeeeeeeep into the Batters Eye in centerfield. I guess Bryce’s injury is all better. Nats 6-2
- Bottom of the 9th: After Strasburg made his first 8-innning MLB game, Rafael Soriano gets Nick Hundley to ground out to Lombo. It wasn’t a save, so all the jerseys stayed tucked in. But it was a great win for the team and good feeling for the fans. Nats win 6-2.
In other news, WHY IS IAN DESMOND TWEETING ABOUT #PEANUTBUTTER? That makes no sense. If you have any ideas why he’s doing it, leave them in the comments, or tweet them to @MattsBats.
Also, check out my other post of the day here– I was featured on MLB.com!
NATS GAME TOMORROW: 10:10 ET
GIO GONZALEZ (3-2, 4.20 ERA) VS. BURCH SMITH (0-0, 54.00 ERA) YES, that’s a 54 ERA!
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