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Sports Moment of the Day — Stephen Strasburg K’s 14 in 5-2 Win over Pirates in Major League Debut

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 | MLB, Sports, Washington Nationals | No Comments

WOW – Sensational Stephen Strasburg made a major league debut to remember in Tuesday night’s 5-2 win over the Pirates in front of the hometown crowd at Nationals Park in Washington DC.  Strasburg needed only 94 pitches (65 for strikes) to pitch 7 amazing innings of 2-run ball.  He K’d 14 batters in the process and didn’t walk a single batter.  His only mistake was a 2-run home run he served up to Dmitri Young in the 4th inning.  The Nats were able to win the game thanks to solo home runs by Ryan Zimmerman and Josh Willingham and a 2-run home run by Adam Dunn.

But te real story was Strasburg.  After lighting it up in the minor leagues — 11 starts at the Double-A and Triple A levels, 7-2 record, 1.30 ERA, 65 K’s and only 13 walks – the Nationals decided to bring up the future of the franchise for a home start in DC.  When news began to circulate that Strasburg would be making his major league debut on June 8th, the game quickly sold out.  The Nationals also sold 2,000 standing room only seats in the hours leading up to the game and it was only the 2nd sellout for the Natonals this season.  Strasburg delivered in the biggest way possible.  His fastball consistently hit 100 MPH.  His 14 K’s was the most K’s for a pitcher in a major league debut since JR Richards 15 K’s in 1971.  In his final inning of work, Strasburg struck out the side on only 13 pitches.  He struck out the final 7 batters that he faced and each Pirates starter struck out at least once during the game.  Strasburg worked so efficiently, the game took only 2 hours and 19 minutes.  Truly amazing.

Nationals catcher Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez had this to say about the performance – “I’ve been catching a lot of guys, but this kid is unbelievable.”

This could turn a franchise around in a hurry.  If the Nationals can build around a stud like Strasburg, look for the Nationals to compete in the near future with the beast of the NL East – the Phillies, Braves and Mets.  With more outings like this, and more W’s in the win column, look for a lot more sellouts the rest of the way at Nationals Park during the 2010 MLB schedule.

Tags: Nationals Park, Stephen Strasburg