Strasburg dazzles, Nats shutout Braves 2-0

Stephen Strasburg gave the Washington Nationals the lift they needed after suffering a sweep against the Maimi Marlins.  Strasburg threw a beauty to improve to 6-1 overall, tossing 7 shutout innings and scattering just 4 hits while fanning 9 Braves batters.   Strasburg started out red hot, fanning all three batters in the Braves first inning.  He went on to retire the first 8 batters he faced.  Overall, Strasburg threw 90 pitched, 59 for strikes.  Overall, Strasburg improved to 6-1 and lowered his season ERA to 2.35.

Although the Nationals offense only produced 4 hits to back Strasburg, Jesus Flores gave Strasburg the lead in the 5th inning with a solo home run.  It was Flores first game returning since he was injured on May 27th.  Washington's final run came in the seventh inning on an Xavier Nady double that scored Danny Espinosa.

Mike Morse made his long anticipated season debut, after being injured in training camp.  He went 0-4 at the plate, but was  still a very happy addition back to the Nationals lineup.

The Nationals improved overall to 30-21 and maintain a one game lead over New York Mets and Miami Marlins.