The Washington Nationals bounced back on Monday night in Stephen Strasburg's home debut, defeating the Houston Astros 6-3 at Nats Park. It was Strasburg's second win of the season, and the Nats picked up their starter in the 6th inning to get him the win.
The Nats took a 1-0 lead on some small ball, when Steve Lombardozzi put down a bunt on the third base side for a single. Astros' starter Kyle Weiland came off the mound to field it and threw it up the right field line, allowing Ian Desmond to score from third. Lombardozzi had four hits on the night, including a bloop double down the left field line that scored two more. In addition to Lombardozzi, Wilson Ramos went the other way off Weiland, belting his first homer of the season just over the right-centerfield fence for the Nationals' second run of the night.
Strasburg got in a jam in the top of the 6th, loading the bases with nobody out. It looked like he would get out of it after Carlos Lee lined to center and Houston held the runner at third after a rope from Rick Ankiel. But after Strasburg struck out Travis Buck, Chris Johnson lined one to right to score two. It was the only damage Houston would do against the Nationals' ace, who went six innings and struck out five.
It was a solid bounce-back win for Washington, defeating what many feel will be the worst team in the majors this season. Game 2 of the series will feature Gio Gonzalez and Wandy Rodriguez on Tuesday night.
For more on this series check out the SBNation Nationals blog Federal Baseball. For more information on the team in the other clubhouse, check out the Astros blog The Crawfish Boxes. For more news and notes from around Major League Baseball, check out the MLB Hub on SBNation.com.