After a couple rough rehab starts the past couple weeks it would be easy for one to feel uneasy about Washington Nationals phenom pitcher Stephen Strasburg possibly making a return to the Majors sometime in September. On Saturday night the fireball throwing righty might have silenced all critics and concerns in Syracuse, NY.
Strasburg went five innings giving up two hits, one run, no walks and struck out seven. He pitched five perfect innings and came out to a roaring ovation in the sixth, but immediately surrendered back-to-back singles to start the inning and Syracuse manager Randy Knorr pulled him. He was relieved by pitcher Craig Stammen who ran into trouble and allowed one of the men Strasburg put on base to score. He pitched 64 pitches total with 47 of them being strikes. He started 10 of 17 batters he faced with strikes. All seven strike outs were swinging.
It was a magnificent performance mired only by the pair of sixth inning singles and the earned run. The Chiefs are currently tied with the Rochester Red Wings 1-1.