Strasburg silences Tribe, improves to 14-1

CLEVELAND — In the aftermath of a second consecutive blown save, the skidding Nationals needed a strong showing from starter Stephen Strasburg. The right-hander delivered, stifling the Indians in a 4-1 win Wednesday afternoon to split the two-game Interleague set at Progressive Field.

Strasburg (14-1) spun seven scoreless frames and allowed just three hits, including two by Jose Ramirez. Strasburg whiffed seven and walked just two, bouncing back from his previous outing, in which he allowed six runs on seven hits.

“I try to do that every time,” Strasburg said. “If we’re winning, if we’re losing, all I can do is what I can on the day that I pitch. It’s a long season, so we’re just going to keep grinding.”

Indians righty Carlos Carrasco (7-4) had a solid showing over six innings of three-run ball, but a few mistakes proved costly. He struggled early, but was able to recover and retire 10 consecutive batters at one point.

“I thought [Carrasco] had really good stuff,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “I think he was a little excited to pitch against Strasburg but it’s nice to see if you can match up. I thought he had a little extra and it looked like it.”

Daniel Murphy broke the 0-for-10 skid off Carrasco with a solo shot to right to lead off the sixth. Per Statcast™, the ball traveled an estimated 376 feet with an exit velocity of 94 mph. The homer extended Murphy’s hitting streak to 13 games, and it also gave him his first 20-homer season.

Murphy and Trea Turner — 3-for-4 with three RBIs — provided more than enough run support for Strasburg.

Start of a new streak: Nationals manager Dusty Baker has been fond of calling the day Strasburg pitches this season “win day.” Washington had lost six of its past eight games, so he tasked Strasburg with stopping that skid. And Strasburg responded with another dominant effort during a season full of them.

“That’s his job,” Baker said before the game. “They didn’t give him all …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com