WASHINGTON — Bryce Harper was pulled after the sixth inning and Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg suffered his second loss of the season as Washington fell 7-1 to the San Francisco Giants Saturday night in a matchup of NL division leaders.
Harper played with a stiff neck, Nationals manager Dusty Baker revealed following the loss, which snapped Washington’s four-game winning streak.
“I’ve been having it for a couple days now,” Harper said of the neck stiffness. “It’s been bothering me. Tonight (Dusty) came up to me in the seventh inning and just gave me the night off. ’We’ll get you out of there.’ Hopefully get some treatment on that and feel better (Sunday) or Tuesday.’ We’ll see where we’re at.”
The 2015 NL MVP looked awkward in all three of his at-bats. He struck out each time, lowering his batting average to .233.
“Anybody who has ever had a stiff neck, I mean, you know you’re not yourself,” Baker said. “So, I took him out for precaution. We’ll see if it’s any better tomorrow.”
During his third inning at-bat against Giants starter Matt Cain (4-6), Harper needed a moment to regroup after fouling off a pitch, adjusting into a slight crouch. The Nationals’ trainer tended to the right fielder , but Harper remained in the game.
“It just didn’t feel very good,” Harper said. “It got a little tense in there. I needed a break real quick. Our trainer got out there and gave me a second. Just definitely didn’t feel right. Hopefully we can see what tomorrow has in store for us.”
As for what caused the issue, Harper could only shrug.
“I don’t know, man. Maybe a pillow. I really have no idea,” he explained.
The primary cause of pain for Strasburg (15-2) was Eduardo Nunez. The third baseman got four hits, including two triples and a double off Strasburg.
“There was too much Nunez today. This was his day,” Baker said.
Brandon Belt homered, doubled and singled for the Giants.
“They must have eaten some line drives for lunch because there were line drives hit everywhere,” Baker cracked.
Strasburg was trying to become the first pitcher in the majors with 16 wins this season. Instead, he lasted only 4 2/3 innings in his shortest outing this year, giving up four runs and eight hits.
Strasburg struck out eight but allowed two runs in both the fourth and fifth innings. He threw 88 pitches overall.
“I feel like I was scuffling the whole game,” the right-hander said. “Yeah, I retired nine of the first 10, but I didn’t really feel like I was executing and it just kind of caught up to me.”
Cain won his third straight start, pitching five shutout innings and scattering five hits. Last Sunday, he threw five no-hit innings to beat the Nationals at home.
Nunez had been hitless in his last 16 at-bats, and was just 2 for 20 since being traded over by Minnesota in late July. The AL All-Star scored three runs.
Buster Posey drove in two runs for the Giants, who had been struggling at the plate lately before getting 14 hits.
SOLO JOB
Danny Espinosa drove in the lone Washington run with an eighth-inning single.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Nationals: 1B Ryan Zimmerman was placed on the 15-day disabled list Saturday with a bruised left wrist. The move is retroactive to Aug. 1, and OF Brian Goodwin was promoted from Triple-A Syracuse. Goodwin replaced Harper and made his major league debut, and had a flyout in his lone at-bat.
UP NEXT
Giants: LHP Madison Bumgarner (10-6) tries to rebound after his worst start of the season last Tuesday when he gave up eight runs on 10 hits in five innings during a 13-8 loss at Philadelphia.
Nationals: RHP Tanner Roark (11-6) has won five of his last six decisions, including his last two starts when he earned victories over Arizona and San Francisco.
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