SB Nation DC - Strasburg's 8 Strike Outs And Dunn's 2 Homers Lead Nationals To Winhttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/48897/dc-fave.png2010-07-09T23:00:56-04:00http://dc.sbnation.com/rss/stream/13260372010-07-09T23:00:56-04:002010-07-09T23:00:56-04:00Dunn's Two Homers Lead The Way For Nationals in 8-1 Win
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<p>Washington, DC (Sports Network) - Adam Dunn hit a pair of homers and knocked in three, and Stephen Strasburg threw six solid innings, as the Washington Nationals earned a 8-1 decision over the San Francisco Giants in the opener of a three-game set.</p>
<p>Wil Nieves went 2-for-4 with a two-run single for the Nationals, who have won four of their last six. Willie Harris turned in a three-hit game and drove in a run in the win. Dunn has five homers and nine RBI in his last three games.</p>
<p>Strasburg (3-2) snapped a four-start winless streak after giving up only one run on three hits. The rookie sensation struck out eight and walked one.</p>
<p>Andres Torres hit a solo homer before leaving in the fifth inning with a left groin injury for San Francisco, which was coming off a four-game sweep at Milwaukee.</p>
<p>Torres led off the game with a homer to right, but the Nationals got the run back in the home half. Roger Bernadina doubled with one away and scored on Cain's throwing error when he tried to pick off the speedster at second.</p>
<p>Strasburg fanned Pablo Sandoval to work out of some two-out trouble in the top of the fourth, and Dunn put the Nationals in front 2-1 with a mammoth homer to right-center in the home half.</p>
<p>Strasburg then gave up a double to Travis Ishikawa leading off the fifth, before settling down to retire the next three hitters.</p>
<p>With the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth, Nieves' two-run bloop single to right gave the Nats a 4-1 edge.</p>
<p>Sean Burnett and Drew Storen combined to pitch a scoreless seventh and Washington tacked on four more in the bottom portion. Alberto Gonzalez led off the inning with a triple and scored on Nyjer Morgan's base hit. Then, two batters later, Dunn cracked a two-run shot to left-center. Later in the inning, Harris plated Cristian Guzman with a double for an 8-1 game.</p>
<p>Joel Peralta tossed a scoreless ninth to close out the victory.</p>
<p>Game Notes</p>
<p>The Giants won two of three games from the Nationals at AT&T Park from May 25-27 and despite the loss are still 13-4 against Washington since the start of the 2008 campaign. San Francisco is now 6-2 at Nationals Park during that time period. Earlier on Friday, the Nationals optioned rookie right-hander Luis Atilano to Triple-A Syracuse, but did not announce a corresponding roster move...Dunn has hit 20 or more homers prior to the All-Star break in each of the last eight seasons, which is a major league record.</p>
https://dc.sbnation.com/2010/7/9/1562330/strasburg-adam-dunn-nationals-beat-giantsMartin Shatzer2010-07-09T18:38:29-04:002010-07-09T18:38:29-04:00Stephen Strasburg And Nationals Open Series Against Giants
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<p><a href="http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/teams/SFG" class="sbn-auto-link">San Francisco Giants</a> (45-40) at <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/teams/WAS" class="sbn-auto-link">Washington Nationals</a> (38-48), 7:05 p.m.</p>
<p>Probable Starting Pitchers: San Francisco - <span>Matt Cain</span> (6-7, 2.98) Washington - <span>Stephen Strasburg</span> (2-2, 2.45)</p>
<p>(Sports Network) - Stephen Strasburg is quickly finding out that its hard to win games when his team has had trouble scoring runs. It's a problem San Francisco Giants pitcher Matt Cain can certainly relate to.</p>
<p>Strasburg will be attempting to halt a four-start winless streak when the young phenom takes the mound for the Washington Nationals for tonight's opener of a three-game series with Cain's Giants.</p>
<p>After winning his first two major league starts in dominating fashion, Strasburg has recorded two losses and a pair of no-decisions. The 2009 No. 1 overall draft pick can hardly be faulted for the drought, however, considering he's allowed two or less runs in three of those four starts. The Nationals were shut out in both of his defeats, including a 1-0 setback to Kansas City on June 23 in which Strasburg struck out nine and permitted just the one run in six innings of work.</p>
<p>The 21-year-old wasn't overly sharp in his most recent outing, though, as he issued three walks and labored through 96 pitches over five innings against the division-rival <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/teams/NYM" class="sbn-auto-link">Mets</a> last Saturday. Strasburg did manage to hold New York to two runs and wound up without a decision in a game Washington rallied late to win by a 6-5 count.</p>
<p>Despite his modest 2-2 record at the moment, Strasburg has recorded an impressive 2.45 earned run average since his well-publicized callup to the majors in early June and has struck out a eye-opening 53 hitters over his first 36 2/3 innings in the big leagues.</p>
<p>Cain has had issues with run support at times as well. The talented right- hander lost 14 games for an offensively-challenged Giants team in 2008, even though he produced a respectable 3.78 ERA in 34 starts, and is just 6-7 so far this season despite a 2.98 ERA. San Francisco has mustered two runs or fewer in all but one of those losses.</p>
<p>The 2009 National League All-Star has struggled as of late, however, having gone 0-3 with a 6.85 ERA in four starts since a June 13 besting of Oakland. Cain was able to deliver a solid effort in Sunday's matchup at Colorado, though, pitching seven innings and surrendering three runs while fanning six in a no-decision.</p>
<p>Facing the Nationals could help Cain get back on track. The former first-round pick has amassed a 4-0 record with a 1.62 ERA over his last five encounters with Washington and has yielded only two runs over a combined 11 1/3 innings in winning both of his career visits to Nationals Park.</p>
<p>In eight overall starts against Washington, Cain is 4-2 with a 2.67 ERA.</p>
<p>The Giants will be entering tonight's tilt on a roll, having just swept a four-game set in Milwaukee and putting up 36 runs over the course of the series. After pounding out 18 hits in a 15-2 rout of the <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/teams/MIL" class="sbn-auto-link">Brewers</a> on Wednesday, San Francisco homered three times en route to a 9-3 triumph in yesterday's finale.</p>
<p><span>Aubrey Huff</span> had a two-run blast in Thursday's win and drove in four runs to lead the Giants' latest offensive outburst. <span>Andres Torres</span> and <span>Buster Posey</span> also went deep in the finale, while <span>Freddy Sanchez</span> finished 3-for-5 with two RBI to help San Francisco to its first-ever four-game sweep at Miller Park.</p>
<p>"We played as good a series as we've played all year," said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. "[Thursday's] game wasn't the greatest in the world on either side, but the win gave us a four-game sweep and we'll take that any day."</p>
<p>Posey played a huge role in the sweep, as the highly-regarded rookie catcher went 9-for-15 with four homers and nine RBI in the four victories. He drove in six runs in Wednesday's shellacking and is now batting .336 with six homers and 20 RBI in 35 games since being promoted from the minors in late May.</p>
<p>The Giants have moved within five games of first-place San Diego in the NL West standings with their recent surge. The Nationals helped them close the gap by taking two of three bouts with the <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/teams/SDP" class="sbn-auto-link">Padres</a> this week, although San Diego averted a sweep with a 7-1 decision in Thursday's finale.</p>
<p><span>Roger Bernadina</span> and <span>Adam Kennedy</span> each ended 2-for-4 in the loss, while <span>Adam Dunn</span> knocked in the lone Washington run with an eighth-inning single. Nats starter <span>Luis Atilano</span> (6-6) was reached for four runs on eight hits, including a pair of homers, over the first 5 1/3 innings.</p>
<p>The Giants won two of three games from the Nationals at AT&T Park from May 25-27 and are 13-3 against Washington since the start of the 2008 campaign. San Francisco has gone 6-1 at Nationals Park during that time period.</p>
https://dc.sbnation.com/2010/7/9/2317702/stephen-strasburg-and-nationals-open-series-against-giantsMartin Shatzer