Washington, DC – It may be the first of many.
And it took less 100 pitches to do it.
Stephen Strasburg fired the first shutout of his career in the Washington Nationals' 6-0 win to sweep a three-game set over the Philadelphia Phillies.
The 25-year-old needed just 99 pitches to accomplish the feat. With the crowd on its feet, his final pitch was stung off the bat of Kevin Frandsen, but right into the glove of Ryan Zimmerman at third base to end the game.
"You expect more of those from him, because of his talent," Nationals manager Davey Johnson said of Strasburg's shutout.
Strasburg (6-9) fanned 10 and surrendered just four hits and a walk for Washington, which came into the series losers of four in a row.
Strasburg never allowed a Phillie to get into scoring position and tallied 66 strikes to go along with just 33 balls. He lowered his ERA to a sparkling 2.83.
Jayson Werth logged his second straight three-hit game for the Nationals, who had 13 hits -- all singles.
Kyle Kendrick (10-9) gave up six runs -- four earned -- on 11 hits and two walks over 4 1/3 innings for Philadelphia, which dropped its 11th consecutive contest on the road and ninth in its last 11 overall.
Werth's RBI single in the first immediately got the Nationals on the board, and Washington added two in the fourth and three more in the fifth.
RBI singles in the fourth by Wilson Ramos and Denard Span made it 3-0. With the bases loaded and none away in the fifth, a throwing error by second baseman Chase Utley on a force attempt allowed a pair of runners to cross the plate. Steve Lombardozzi followed with an RBI single to make it a six-run game.
Game Notes
Lombardozzi (3 hits), Ramos (2 hits), Span (2 hits) and Ian Desmond (2 hits) were four other Nationals who had multi-hit contests ... Washington was 5- for-13 with runners in scoring position.
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