(Sports Network) - Rookie sensation Stephen Strasburg takes his show to the road tonight, when theWashington Nationals visit the Florida Marlins in the first of three games at Sun Life Stadium.
Strasburg, last year's No. 1 overall draft pick out of San Diego State, has generally been lights out in his initial seven trips to the mound, winning three of five decisions and striking out 61 batters in just 42 2/3 innings.
He's reached double-digits in strikeouts twice and averaged at least one per inning in each of his appearances, including an 8-1 win over San Francisco on July 9 in which he allowed three hits and a run with eight strikeouts in six innings.
Just four days short of his 22nd birthday, Strasburg has split a pair of road starts thus far, winning at Cleveland and losing at Atlanta while combining to surrender eight hits and five runs in 11 2/3 innings.
The Atlanta loss on June 28 was the only one of his seven starts in which he allowed more than two runs.
For the Marlins, right-hander Ricky Nolasco can reach the double digit mark in wins for the fourth time in his major-league career.
The 27-year-old picked up his ninth win of 2010, and fourth in a row, on July 9 at Arizona, where he allowed six hits and two runs in seven innings of a 3-2 triumph.
Nolasco's last loss came June 17 against Texas. Since then, he's given up 24 hits and 11 runs in 28 innings, going exactly seven innings in all four outings.
A former draft choice of the Chicago Cubs, Nolasco won 11 games as a rookie with the Marlins in 2006, then picked up 15 and 13 wins in 2008 and 2009, respectively. His next win will be the 50th in the big leagues.
On Sunday in Arizona, Jorge Cantu and Dan Uggla knocked in runs and six Marlins pitchers combined for a shutout in a 2-0 triumph over the Diamondbacks to earn a split of a four-game series before the All-Star break.
Alex Sanabia made his first major league start and lasted 3 1/3 innings, allowing five hits and walking one with two strikeouts. Burke Badenhop (1-5) got the final out of the fourth inning on a double-play ball with the bases loaded to earn the win.
Brian Sanches came on to pitch the next two frames and Jose Veras, Clay Hensley and Leo Nunez each worked an inning to close out the game. It landed Nunez his 20th save of the year for Florida, which at 42-46 sits fourth in the NL East, 10 1/2 games behind the first-place Braves.
In Washington, DC, Travis Ishikawa went 2-for-3 and drove in three and rookie Madison Bumgarner tossed six-plus solid innings, as the San Francisco Giants earned a 6-2 win over the Nationals in the rubber match of a three-game set.
Adam Dunn turned in a three-hit game and knocked in a run for Washington, which has dropped three of its last four. The Nationals are 39-50 and in last place in the NL East.
Livan Hernandez (6-5) took the loss for surrendering five runs on five hits with a pair of walks and fanned four in five frames.
The 2010 season series between Washington and Florida is tied at three games apiece. The Nationals have won nine of the past 15 meetings between the teams.