Stephen Strasburg shines as Washington Nationals nip Houston Astros 8-2 - MLB Update
Washington Nationals’ starter, Stephen Strasburg had a notable day with the ball as he pitched three innings and had four-strike-outs with an ERA of 1.13 in the Nationals’ 8-2 victory against the Houston Astros at Nationals Park, Washington on September
11.
Astros’ batters executed well in the first inning and took a 1-0 lead. Jimmy Paredes scored the first run for Astros when Carlos Lee hit a single-run shot towards centre-field. On the other hand, Nationals tied the game 1-1 during second inning when Chris
Marrero hit a sacrifice fly towards right-field and Jayson Werth posted a single run. Danny Espinosa advanced to third base to end the second inning.
In the third inning, Nationals smashed four quick runs to raise their lead 5-1. Ian Desmond hit a solo homer (380 feet) to left-field and Rick Ankiel homered (391 feet) to left-centre. Ryan Zimmerman struck a one-run homer (402 feet) towards centre-field
to add up the third run. The fourth run during third inning was taken by Espinosa to complete a four-run campaign when Marrero doubled to deep left-centre.
The batters were unable to exhibit their contribution during the fourth and fifth innings. Ankiel walked while Zimmerman flied out, Michael Morse lined out and Desmond struck-out without being able to take a run. Similarly, Jordan Schafer singled towards
left-field at the top of fifth inning but Carlos Corporan struck-out, Jason Michaels lined out and Paredes flied out without adding runs.
Zimmerman singled off centre-field and Desmond scored one run to give the Nationals a 6-1 lead at the bottom of sixth inning. Nationals further advanced their lead 8-1 during seventh inning when the batters put two runs on their respective score-card. Marrero
scored one run when Laynce Nix singled off centre-field and Wilson Ramos moved to third base.
The second or final run for Nationals was taken by Ramos when Desmond drove a single-run shot to right-centre and Roger Bernadina occupied third base. In the ninth inning, Astros were able to reduce their lead 8-2 when J.R. Towles reached to first base on
the throwing error of Nationals’ Zimmerman and Matt Downs contributed the final run.
Strasburg pitched superbly as he permitted just one run, three hits and one earned run on his 57 pitches. As a result, Nationals sealed the three-game series 2-1 after defeating the Astros convincingly.
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