Nationals' starter Stephen Strasburg keeps rolling as Nats beat Royals, 13-2

Both runs he allowed, and four of the eight hits the St. Louis Cardinals connected for against Stephen Strasburg, in his previous start before Wednesday's in Kansas City, came in the first inning of his seven-inning outing in Busch Stadium.

He settled in nicely after that, however, and ended up earning his fourth win of the season in Washington's 5-4 win over the Cards.

"I felt like I was spraying my pitches a little bit early," Strasburg explained after the game.

"But that team, that's kind of their MO, they're going to come out hacking and hunting the heaters, so it was not the way I wanted to start, but I just kept telling myself to just keep pitching and trust that it's going to come."

"He got his breaking ball locked in," Dusty Baker explained, "started throwing his fastball where he wanted to and he was lights out after that."

Strasburg finished the outing in St. Louis (4-0) with the Nationals 5-0 in his starts this season, with a 2.25 ERA, a 1.86 FIP, eight walks (2.00 K/9) and 40 Ks (10.00 K/9) in 36 innings pitched, over which the 27-year-old right-hander had a .217/.267/.283 line against.

Wednesday afternoon in Kansas City, the '09 No.1 overall pick faced the Royals for the first time since his rookie campaign in 2010.

Strasburg took the mound with a 6-0 lead and worked around a walk and a single in the first.

The only two runs he allowed in the outing scored in the second when he gave up a one-out single by Omar Infante and back-to-back, two-out hits by Drew Butera and Alcides Escobar.

Strasburg settled in after that and retired 13 of the last 14 batters he faced. Nats' skipper Dusty Baker told reporters after the outing that having to sit around through a long top of the first might have had an adverse effect, though he likely wouldn't complain about being spotted a six-run cushion.

"I think he'll take that every time," Baker said.

"He just wasn't sharp. And a lot of times when you get a lot of runs in the first inning, the pitcher is coming out of the bullpen and he sits around for a long time, because I think it was about a half-an-hour inning, because we batted around. That's what was probably tough on him, but I think he and the other pitchers will take that every time."

"This might sound strange," Strasburg told reporters, including Washington Post writer James Wagner, when asked about taking the mound with a big lead, "but it made it a little bit more difficult because I feel like when you get that much run support early on, it’s easy to let up. But you’ve got to kind of trick your mind and keep thinking that it’s a 0-0 ballgame. Did I appreciate it? Absolutely. They went out there and swung the bats. I’m glad I was able to get through that one inning and keep fighting and catching a bit of a groove."

"Stras wasn't real sharp, but we gave him a lead early, like we're known to do, and [the Royals] helped us out in that first inning because they're a very good defensive and any time you give away extra outs -- which they actually gave us three outs in that first inning and then we capitalized on it," Baker said.

The win was the Nationals' fifth in six games so far on Washington's ten-game road trip, which continues today in Chicago.

The win in the series finale with Royals, coming as it did a day after the Nationals lost one in the ninth when Jonathan Papelbon blew a save and gave up a walk-off winner, helped the Nats head into the upcoming series with the Cubs on a high note.

Nationals take 2 of 3 from Royals in Kansas City

Photo © Ed Zurga/Getty Images

"The guys feel very, very good about responding after yesterday's game and we wanted to score big just to make sure that they don't come back like they did last night," Baker said.

"It still stings some, but it feels a lot better -- believe me -- today than it did yesterday."

Through six starts this season, Strasburg is now (5-0) with a 2.36 ERA, a 1.78 FIP, nine walks (1.93 BB/9) and 47 Ks (10.07 K/9) in 42 innings pitched, over which he's held opposing hitters to a combined .217/.264/.280 line.

And... did you know he still hasn't allowed an extra base hit by a left-handed hitter yet this season? Not a bad start.