The unthinkable occurred for the Washington Nationals in the second inning of Saturday night’s game between the Nationals and Atlanta Braves. After throwing a changeup to Brian McCann with one out in the second, Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg grimaced in pain as McCann grounded out to second.
Strasburg would finish out the inning by striking out Dan Uggla.
That would be the end of the night for Strasburg, who would be pulled from the game with what the Nationals are calling a right oblique strain.
Strasburg had this to say about his injury:
“It’s something where, the last few starts I’d feel it warming up. I’d go out there and I wouldn’t feel anything. Tonight, it was more kind of like the reverse. I felt really good in the bullpen. I threw a couple pitches in there, and it started to tighten up. I felt it more and more. Nothing I could do about it. I’m kind of frustrated. You want to give at least seven, eight innings a start. I’m just thankful Stammen was able to come in and pick me up and win the first one.”
The extent of the injury is still unknown and whether or not Strasburg will be placed on the DL is to be determined pending further examination and diagnosis of the injury.
Strasburg previously underwent Tommy John surgery in September 2010 to repair ligaments in his elbow. Last season, the Nationals phenom was shut down in September amidst much controversy, a move the Nationals and manager Davey Johnson felt was necessary to protect his arm from any unwanted injuries in the stretch leading up to the playoffs.
Coming into his 12th start of the season, Strasburg had a 3-5 record and 2.49 ERA along with a 71/21 strikeout to walk ratio in 72.1 innings of work. In his past three starts, Strasburg had worked a combined 23.0 innings, posting a 2-0 record and 1.17 ERA.
