Strasburg hit hard in loss to Marlins
On June 8th, Rookie Phenom Stephen Strasburg entered the league with weighty expectations and he responded by pitching seven strong innings in his first Major League start and striking out 14 grown men, professional baseball players like he was still playing college baseball.
Tuesday night he returned from a stint on the disabled list, his first as a pro, and struggled to turn in his worst start so far. He gave up the most runs of his career (six, all earned) and pitched the fewest innings (four and a third), taking the loss to go 5-3. The fireballer who is averaging almost a strikeout and a half per inning had just four for the night – two of which were against opposing pitcher Anibal Sanchezalso – also a career low.
“Not one pitch felt like I controlled it,” Strasburg said. “Just going to chalk it up as a learning experience and go out there and really compete and not worry about things too much next time.”
“Just wasn’t his night,” Nationals manager Jim Riggleman said. “‘Rust’ is probably a good word. He just wasn’t sharp. His velocity was good.”
That part is true, there was nothing wrong with his speed, throwing the ball in the 98-99 MPH range all night. Most pitchers would be happy with that.
Strasburg initially complained of stiffness while warming up for his start against the Atlanta Braves on July 27, causing general manager Mike Rizzo to scratch the pitcher, who is on a season pitch count in any case. Two days later, Strasburg went onto the DL with shoulder inflammation. With Washington well out of contention, the club is not taking any chances with the future of the franchise.
In the first inning of Tuesday night’s game, Strasburg started well, prompting Hanley Ramirez to pop out, but then he walked the next batter, bringing Dan Uggla to the plate. The pitch Uggla hit was fast – 99 MPH – but right over the heart of the plate. Uggla swung easy and hit his 26th home run of the season. “I’m not going to lie,” Uggla said. “I didn’t hit that ball good.”
Strasburg agreed. “He touched it. I supplied all the power for it.”
What followed was as stream of walks and doubles and a visit to the mound first from pitching coach Steve McCatty, then, after another double that made the score 5-1, a visit from Nationals manager Jim Riggleman who called it a night for Strasburg.
“His games where he struggles, we tend to go a little overboard,” McCatty said. “But the kid’s actually been pretty doggone good so far. If he has this game one out of 10, I’ll be pretty happy with it.”
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