Nationals Break Four-Game Losing Streak With Ace Strasburg On The Mound

It’s the ace’s job to be the stopper during a team’s extended losing streak, and Stephen Strasburg was ready to hop into that role on Wednesday. And at the start, it looked like the offense was going to step up, too in a 3-2 Washington Nationals victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. Steve Lombardozzi and Bryce Harper led off the first inning with back to back hits. Harper knocked in Lombo for the first run of the game. On a routine ground ball to short from Ryan Zimmerman, which has become the norm lately, Elliot Johnson threw an errant ball to third to try to nab Harper. It rolled slowly toward the dugout, no one stopped it, and Harper was given a free run. That proved to be the winning run, and it’s a good thing, too, because the Nats offense was inept for the rest of the game. But first, the good stuff. You have to look again to Stephen Strasburg’s magnificent start. He threw seven innings of great baseball for his ninth win of the season. He gave up just two earned runs on five hit...