PHILADELPHIA | Stephen Strasburg is happy to be back healthy and pitching well again.
Strasburg struck out a season-high nine batters in seven innings to lead the Washington Nationals to a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in the first game of a doubleheader on Sunday.
Strasburg (5-5) allowed two runs on four hits with one walk in his second good outing since returning from the disabled list.
“It’s good to be back getting into a game and getting into a routine,” he said. “My fastball command was good. Everything is off the fastball and I was locating it pretty good today.”
Dan Uggla had three hits and Michael Taylor had two hits with a double and an RBI for the Nationals.
Jeff Francoeur hit a home run for the Phillies, who dropped their third consecutive game. Philadelphia, playing its second game under interim manager Pete Mackanin after Ryne Sandberg resigned on Friday, fell to 7-17 in June.
The game was part of a traditional doubleheader, with the Phillies defeating the Nationals, 8-5, in the second game to end the Nationals’ eight-game winning streak. The doubleheader was made necessary with Saturday’s rainout after 1 innings.
In the first game, the Nationals scored twice in the sixth. Taylor hit an RBI double off Kevin Correia (0-2) for a 2-1 lead, and the Nationals added another run when reliever Jake Diekman’s pitch bounced off the glove of catcher Cameron Rupp for a passed ball.
The Phillies got a run back in the bottom half on Francoeur’s RBI single. But the Phillies couldn’t get anything else off Strasburg, who retired the side in the seventh while striking out his final two batters. He set a season-high with 113 pitches.
Strasburg struggled in May, going 1-3 with an 8.00 ERA in five starts, and was placed on the disabled list with tightness in his neck following his May 29 start. He returned last Tuesday against Atlanta and pitched five shutout innings, giving up four hits, in a 3-1 win.
“He pitched great,” Washington manager Matt Williams said. “We stretched him to [113] pitches and he had his good fastball even in the last inning. It’s nice that he’s healthy. It’s important for him to stretch it today and also important for our whole team.”
Drew Storen pitched a perfect ninth for his 23rd save.
Correia, making his fourth start for the Phillies, gave up three runs, one earned, on seven hits with four strikeouts and three walks in 5 1/3 innings. He knew he’d have to limit runs the way Strasburg was dealing.
“He kind of has it going again, and you have to limit the runs as much as possible,” Correia said. “We were in the game and that’s what I was looking for.”
Francoeur’s fifth home run of the season leading off the second put Philadelphia ahead, 1-0.
The Nationals tied it in the fifth with some help from Francoeur. Denard Span hit a line drive to the right-field corner. Francoeur first bobbled the ball trying to pick it up, then it fell out of his hand as he tried to throw back to the infield.
The ball went about eight feet in front of him, drawing gasps from the crowd and a wry smile from Francoeur.
Span was credited with a double and went to third on Francoeur’s error. He scored on Danny Espinosa’s sacrifice fly.
In the second game, Cesar Hernandez had four hits and Maikel Franco drove in three runs for Philadelphia, while Odubel Herrera had three hits and drove in a run.
Ian Desmond and Jose Lobaton hit home runs for Washington, but Tanner Roark was knocked out in the fourth inning.
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