Washington Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg did the job he needed to do. The Washington bullpen, however, did not do its job which eventually lead to a 5-3 defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
On a dark and stormy night, Strasburg made his first start in little over a year as he was recovering from Tommy John surgery. The Nationals ace went five innings giving up no runs on two hits, walking none and striking out four. The only trouble he ran into was in the first inning after he gave up a double to Lee Gordon to lead off the game, but he silenced the Dodgers in that inning and many after that. At one point he sent 11 straight Dodgers down in order. By the time he left the game, the Nationals were winning 3-0 and what baseball fans made it out to Nationals Park Tuesday night were left reeling and believing once again.
Unfortunately the bullpen could not hold down Strasburg's lead to give him the win. Reliever Doug Slaten relieved Strasburg only to give up two runs and put men on base for Brad Peacock who made his MLB debut against Matt Kemp with two men on and one out. The rookie ended up allowing one run in. Atahualpa Severino made his MLB debut as well and struck out the only batter he faced. Then relievers Henry Rodriguez and Yunesky Maya came into the game and each gave up two runs.
The Nats notched three runs in the second thanks to a Wilson Ramos RBI double, a Strasburg sacrifice bunt that the Dodgers misplayed and a Jayson Werth groundout. First baseman Chris Marrero collected his first extra base hit of his MLB career, a double in the second inning. Four Nationals made their MLB debuts Tuesday night including Steve Lombardozzi and Corey Brown who PHed during the night.
A promising night quickly became disappointing when pertaining to the standings, but overall the Nationals have to be estatic at having their young ace back in the fold.