Strasburg to start Friday
The Washington Nationals today announced the following information about their upcoming series at Nationals Park against the Chicago White Sox.
*Reigning NL Player of the Week Stephen Strasburg and All-Star left-hander Mark Buehrle are slated to start the series opener on Friday. Below are the probable pitchers for the entire series (subject to change).
Fri., June 18 vs. CWS (7:05 pm) — LHP Mark Buehrle vs. RHP Stephen Strasburg
Sat., June 19 vs. CWS (4:10 pm) — RHP Gavin Floyd vs. RHP J.D. Martin
Sun., June 20 vs. CWS (1:35 pm) — RHP Freddy Garcia vs. LHP John Lannan
*Saturday’s game vs. Chicago-AL has been changed to a 4:10 pm start and will be broadcast on Fox.
Additional Strasburg notes to tell your friends about:
· In MLB debut, Strasburg became only the 2nd pitcher since ’87 (the year STATS, Inc. began charting pitches) to fan 14-plus and throw less than 100 pitches in a game. On April 9, 2003 at Wrigley Field, MON’s Javier Vazquez struck out 14 in 7.0 innings and needed just 96 pitches to do so.
· With 22, Strasburg tied for 2nd all-time on list of most strikeouts recorded in first 2 big league starts. In MLB annals, only BRK’s Karl Spooner (27 in 2 starts in Sept. 1954) recorded more in first 2 big league assignments.
· Strasburg fanned 19 before issuing first walk. Only one pitcher since 1900 has posted more strikeouts before walking his first career batter: CIN’s Johnny Cueto (22 in 2008).
· Strasburg led MLB with 22 strikeouts last week. KCR’s Zack Greinke ranked 2nd with 18.
