The offense came out of its coma and Stephen Strasburg held the St. Louis Cardinals down for seven good innings and the Washington Nationals won the first of a 10-game roadie, 5-4, before a sellout crowd of 45,246 of the "best fans in baseball" at Busch Stadium, a place that has not been kind to the Nats in recent years.
Strasburg (W, 4-0) had a tough go of it in the first inning, but settled down very nicely to strike out nine -- including seven consecutive outs recorded by Ks at one point. He gave up two runs, earned, both in that first inning, and allowed eight hits and one walk, lowering his season ERA to 2.25.
Blake Treinen "earned" a hold, though he gave up a two-run homer to lefty Matt "Mount" Adams, and Johnny Jonathan Papelbon walked the first hitter he faced. But the veteran knows how to throw a double play ball and got Brandon Moss to roll over on one, wherein Danny Espinosa made a terrific play to record the twin-killing to allow JJP to escape with his eighth save intact.
As for the aforementioned offense, Michael Taylor went right at it, smacking the second pitch of the game from Mike Leake for his third homer of the season. Espinosa got in on the act as well, clubbing his first -- a two-run shot -- in the Nats four-run fourth inning.
That fourth inning was keyed by a reversal of an out call at second base on a stolen base attempt by Anthony Rendon. Viva la replay!
It was just Dave and Patrick on the show tonight, and this is where the link for the show goes:
On Saturday afternoon, the Nats play at St. Louis again at 2:15 p.m. Eastern. Jumpin' Joe Ross (2-0, 0.54) returns from his finger issue to face Jaime Garcia (1-1, 3.24).