Washington Nationals vs Houston Astros: Grapefruit League GameThread - Stephen Strasburg vs the ‘Stros...

A strikeout/wild pitch that put a runner on and a walk in his first inning of work last time out pushed Stephen Strasburg up to 27 pitches early in his outing against New York’s Mets, but the Washington Nationals’ right-hander worked around those runners, a single in the third, and an error in the fourth to complete four scoreless on just 59 pitches overall, striking out five of the 15 batters he faced on the day.

Overall, he told reporters afterwards, he was happy with the outing, which was his second scoreless start this Spring.

“It was good to be out there in kind of a jam,” Strasburg said.

“A lot of pitches in the first inning, didn’t really feel like I was — other than the walk — where I felt like I was attacking the strike zone pretty good, I just didn’t realize that there were that many [pitches until] after the fact, but having those type of innings is good, and then being able to go out there and make the adjustment.

“I was pretty happy with it, arm felt pretty good.”

While his velocity hasn’t ticked back up to the high 90s he was throwing in his early days in the majors, the 30-year-old said he wasn’t concerned about how hard he was throwing.

“I think it’s moreso to see how they are reactive to the ball,” Strasburg explained, as quoted by MASN’s Pete Kerzel, “and if it looks like they are not picking it up too well, that’s a benefit for me.”

Strasburg continues his preparation for the start of the regular season tonight when he and the Nationals take on the Houston Astros at 6:35 PM EDT from the FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, where Washington is the home team in Grapefruit League action which you can watch on MLB’s At Bat app via MLB.tv and on the MLB Network.