Washington Nationals beat St. Louis Cardinals 4-3 as Stephen Strasburg strikes out nine-MLB Update
Starter Stephen Strasburg and relief pitcher Ryan Mattheus help the Washington Nationals take a 4-3 victory against the St. Louis Cardinals on September 2, 2012 at Nationals Park, Washington, D.C. in the fourth match of the four game series.
Nationals struck 13 hits in the game and yet they failed to win comprehensively as is indicated by the fact that the Cardinals almost turned the tables on them during the penultimate innings.
First three innings were scoreless before Washington posted their first run of the game in the bottom of the fourth.
Until Strasburg remained on the mound, the Cardinals did not score any run and therefore with the lead rising the Nationals were heading to clinch an easy win. However, in the latter half of the game when the relievers came in, the Cardinals fought back
and used them for adding three runs on the scoreboard.
With this, they managed to bridge the deficit to one run which meant that few productive hits in the last inning will have taken them past the Nationals and therefore will have offered little time for the latter to reclaim the lead.
Thanks to the quality throws by Mattheus and the closer Tyler Clippard under pressure the Cardinals were blocked from pulling off the victory. Mattheus earned the win. In little more than one inning, he allowed one run.
Clippard recorded his 29th save of the season by finishing the last inning scoreless.
Offensively the catcher Kurt Suzuki stood up for Washington on Sunday. He added two RBIs while striking two hits in three at-bats.
Meanwhile, Strasburg speaks about his impeccable show on the mound in the game. As he struck-out nine in six innings, he is of the view that once he completed a couple of scoreless innings it was easy for him to just keep the momentum going.
"I just settled in a little bit," Strasburg said. "That's just getting out there, feeling your way through the first couple of innings. When you've got your pitches working, it's just attack."
The Nationals have planned to shut Strasburg down. The player with an ability to finish innings scoreless is going to cost them immensely when he is out.
It will be hoped that the absence of Strasburg will not hamper the smooth expedition of the Nationals during the remainder of the season.
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