Stephen Strasburg the starting pitcher for the Washington Nationals was placed on the 15-day DL with soreness in his elbow. The Washington Nationals right-hander went 2.2 innings, gave up six runs (four earned) on seven hits, struck out two, and walked three on 82 pitches (48 strikes) in the loss.
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Kevin Gausman pitched six scoreless innings, and the Orioles offense touched up hard-throwing rookie Reynaldo Lopez for six runs (four earned) in just 2 2/3 innings.
The 22-year-old’s task will be tougher on Tuesday night when he makes his first career start against Mark Trumbo and the Orioles, who lead the majors with 194 home runs. In late June, Strasburg also spent time on the DL, but with a back problem that sidelined him for two weeks.
Right-hander A.J. Cole was promoted from Triple-A Syracuse to start Monday night against the Orioles.
Seattle’s Mike Zunino and Kyle Seager each hit a three-run homer and Nelson Cruz added a solo shot as the Mariners rallied to beat the New York Yankees 7-5.
While the Nationals have a fairly easy schedule ahead of them, with six of the next 10 games in the schedule against the sub-.500 Rockies and the Phillies, Washington’s hopes of a deep playoff run rests on Strasburg’s right arm.
Strasburg insisted he could have pitched through his elbow discomfort when he told Manager Dusty Baker about it Saturday, but the Nationals made a decision to play it safe with the pitcher they signed to a $175 million contract extension in May.
So as fans from around the beltway settled in for a great game between the region’s two teams, the O’s searched for a way to get the lead. Murphy booted it and allowed two unearned runs to score. His last start against Colorado, Strasburg allowed the first nine men to reach base in what turned out to be his shortest start of the season.
The Orioles did all their scoring against A.J. Cole (0-1) in his season debut.
“It’s a really good team”, Orioles manager Buck Showalter said about Washington. “He has one of the best curveballs we’ve seen”.
Baltimore tied the game in the third with a leadoff home run by 2B Jonathan Schoop.
Nationals: Tanner Roark (13-6, 2.87 ERA) starts Wednesday night.
Strasburg is 15-4 with a 3.59 ERA in 23 starts this season.
In the third, Lopez was poised to maneuver out of a jam having surrendered just one run, but with two outs and the bases loaded, Murphy was unable to field a routine groundball off Hardy’s bat, the ball bouncing off his glove into right field.
They are sitting in a good position right now. Following Lopez’s exit, Belisle got Jones to hit a groundball to Danny Espinosa and was called out at first.
Trumbo homer streak ends: Much was made Monday night of the fact that Trumbo’s last seven hits – dating back to August 11 – had been home runs.
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“Our young guys have come through in all departments – offensively, defensively, pitching wise – and their future’s bright and so is ours”, Baker said.
