An hour and a half before first pitch of the Washington Nationals’ game against the Cincinnati Reds, pitcher Stephen Strasburg wasn’t even on the active roster. A few hours later he’d be leaving the field to a standing ovation.
But the victory didn’t come without a little controversy as Nationals manager Dusty Baker pulled Strasburg 6.2 innings into a no-hitter. That’s right. Strasburg sat down while there were still zeroes on the board.
Stephen Strasburg just got pulled after 6 2/3 innings and 109 pitches. He was working on a no-hitter. pic.twitter.com/3gxkpeNsqz
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) July 3, 2016
On its face, it seems crazy to pull a guy during a performance like that, but Baker’s call was the correct one. Strasburg literally just got of the disabled list Sunday morning. At the time the Nats were up 11-0 with two innings to go. Short of a total collapse the game was won and there’s no reason to run Strasburg into the ground the very game you get him back.
The man is just too good for his own good. He’d thrown 109 pitches when Baker pulled him.
“I understand where he (Baker) is coming from, yeah,” Strasburg said after the game. “There’s more important things, hopefully, down the road for this team.”
No kidding. Washington is in the driver’s seat in the NL East, five games ahead of the New York Mets. They’re 50-33 with a 26-13 record at home. And Strasburg? He’s 11-0 on the mound.
“It’s tough taking a guy out of a no-hitter,” Baker said. “But we have to think about the future and where he had come from off the DL.”
Stephen Strasburg is the 1st NL starter to begin a season 11-0 since Andy Hawkins for the 1985 Padres pic.twitter.com/gDGgDRcKwh
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) July 3, 2016
It was Strasburg’s first start since suffering an upper back strain on June 15. That was about a month after the Nationals signed him to a seven-year, $175 million contract extension. That alone is plenty of reason to give Strasburg the hook Sunday.
If the game was closer would Baker have made the same move? Probably. The Nationals are on a tear. They’re 7-3 in their last 10 games and if shortstop Danny Espinoza was any hotter at the plate, he’d create a singularity and his own planetary system. Sunday Espinoza was 4-for-5 with two home runs, six RBIs and two runs scored. It’s a freakish turnaround for Espinoza who finished the first month of the season batting a paltry .185.
NO HITS, ALL OF THE HITS: No hits in 6 2/3 for Strasburg. 6 RBIs for Espinosa in 12-1 win over Reds! #IBackTheNats pic.twitter.com/87oR2uPwJX
— Nationals on MASN (@masnNationals) July 3, 2016
This isn’t the first time the Nationals have been careful with their ace. In 2012 Washington shut Strasburg down after a rough start in September of that year and never pitched an inning in the National League Divisional Series against the St. Louis Cardinals.
As the day started it looked like Strasburg was in for anything but a no-hit performance. He walked the first two batters he faced and just posted four strikeouts over the first six innings. Before Sunday the longest Strasburg had gone in a game without giving up a hit was 4.2 innings.
“He (Strasburg) was very good,” Stasburg’s battery mate, catcher Wilson Ramos said. “… I know that if it weren’t for the pitch count and because he was coming off the injury, I’m sure he would have been able to do it.”
https://twitter.com/masnKolko/status/749692368010350592
Instead of chancing it, Baker brought in Blake Treinen for the final out in the seventh. Matt Belisle ended the chance of a staff no-hitter in the eighth, giving up three hits and a run with one strikeout. Oliver Perez finished out the game, closing out the ninth with a zero.
As off as it seems to pull a pitcher in the midst of a no-hitter, it’s actually the third time it’s happened this season. The Los Angeles Dodgers pulled rookie pitcher Ross Stripling after he pitched 7.1 innings in his major league debut back in April against the San Francisco Giants. It actually cost them the game as the Dodgers came back to win in the 10th inning, 3-2.
On April 30 Miami Marlins starter Adam Conley got the hook after 8.2 no-hit innings against the Milwaukee Brewers. Conley had thrown 119 pitches when manager Don Mattingly strolled out to the mound amid a chorus of boos from the fans. The Marlins won the game 6-3.
