Strasburg pitches, hits the Nats past the Marlins

Stephen Strasburg has been on a roll. Despite missing a month of time due to a right elbow impingement, the righty has pitched to a 1.74 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP since July 1st. Not only did Strasburg remind us of his pitching ability today, but he also reminded us that he won the Silver Slugger in 2012.

The Marlins, behind Adam Conley’s strong start, hung with the Nationals in a scoreless duel through five innings. Unfortunately, it was in the sixth inning that Strasburg decided to break the tie himself by launching on a home run to right-center to give Washington a 1-0 lead. The blast was tallied at 409 feet, with an exit velocity of 100.9 mph.

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One batter later, Wilmer Difo hit a solo homer of his own to give the Nationals a 2-0 lead. Conley would leave at the end of the inning after throwing 111 pitches.

The Marlins offense was essentially J.T. Realmuto, who hit a single, double and triple to fall just short of the cycle, while providing half of the team’s six hits.

The rest of the game went largely the same way as the first six frames, as the Marlins pen coughed up two more runs while failing to score against Strasburg, who went all nine innings to record the second shutout of his career. His final tally was nine IP, six hits, one walk and eight strikeouts on 110 pitches.

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The Nats swept the Fish, throwing cold water on Miami’s hot streak while dropping them to 66-66, while at 5 ¹⁄₂ games back in the wild card race. The Marlins return back home to start a four game weekend series against the Phillies; a weak team they need to dominate this weekend in order to bounce back into the thick of the wild card race.

Odrisamer Despaigne (0-1, 3.70 ERA) will take on Ben Lively (1-5, 4.36 ERA) at 7:10 pm Thursday night at Marlins Park.

fangraphs.com

Player of the Game: Hello??? Steven Strasburg

Flounder: A.J. Ellis with an embarrassing passed ball to allow the fourth Washington run to score

Turning Point: The Strasburg homer in the 6th