Hey, at least the Astros got two earned runs off Strasburg. Astros fall to Washington, 6-3, for their 2nd straight loss, and fifth in their last six games.
Stephen Strasburg got six of the first seven batters he faced, allowing a Chris Johnson single in the first two innings, while Kyle Weiland allowed two hits in the first two innings. Altuve singled to open the 3rd inning and Weiland sacrificed him over, but Jordan Schafer struck out looking and Jed Lowrie fouled out to third to strand Altuve in scoring position.
Meanwhile, in the bottom of the 3rd, Ian Desmond doubled to left, and scored when Lombardozzi bunted Weiland into committing a throwing error. Ryan Zimmerman then drew a walk, but Jayson Werth (the $126m man) flied out to center with two men on to end the inning.
Strasburg got another stretch of six out of seven batters through the 4th and 5th, while Weiland gave up a Wilson Ramos homer in the 4th with two outs to make it a 2-0 game. In the top of the 6th, Strasburg allowed the Schafer and Lowrie singles and walked Martinez to load the bases (uh-oh). Carlos Lee flied out to center, but not deep enough to score Jordan Schafer. Travis Buck struck out swinging to bring the Astros' 0-fer stretch with the bases loaded to 0x13 until Chris Johnson knocked in two runs with a two-out single. Jason Castro lined out to shortstop with runners on 2nd and 3rd to end the inning.
Then the bottom of the 6th happened. Kyle Weiland got two outs (bookended by a Rick Ankiel single, then walked Roger Bernadina and Ian Desmond to load the bases (again, with two outs). Steve Lombardozzi doubled in two runs, and Ryan Zimmerman singled in two more. Four Nationals runs with two outs. Wesley Wright came in to relieve Weiland (and Astros fans), and got One of The LaRoche brothers to strike out looking.
Jose Altuve doubled to lead off the 7th, and then two Nats relievers struck out the side to strand him at 2nd. Brandon Lyon came in for the bottom of the 7th, and managed to allow four baserunners - but prevented them from scoring with the help of a Jordan Schafer outfield assist at home, nailing Ryan Zimmerman to end the 8th inning.
Between his two innings, an error by Rick Ankiel allowed Travis Buck to score after Buck doubled with one out to cut the Nationals lead to 6-3, but in the bottom of the 9th, the Astros got a walk from Jed Lowrie, but left him right there.
*The Nationals rapped out 13 hits, including four extra-base hits (three doubles, and a homer). The 13 hits allowed were a season-high for Astros pitchers, and it's the 5th time in the last six games they've allowed double-digit hits.
*After starting the season with nine earned runs in the first four games, they've now allowed 30 earned runs in their last six.
*Kyle Weiland, what the heck? After a ridiculous Spring Training, Weiland has allowed 18H/10ER in 10.2IP with 9K:4BB. And after an 0-3 season in 2011 with a 7.66 ERA, Weiland is now 0-2 with an 8.44 ERA.
*Meanwhile, the Astros were 2x14 w/RISP, bringing them to 29x101 on the season. But hey, Chris Johnson got that first hit with the bases loaded to bring that up to 1x14.
*J.D. Martinez snapped his 9-game hitting streak with an 0x4, 4K performance, which is of course a career-high. That's bad, but Preston Wilson struck out five times on April 17, 2006, and four times on April 19, 2006, with two Ks in the April 18 game - for 11K in 14PAs, all against Milwaukee. And the Astros went 2-1.
*Chris Johnson was 3x4 (when, an hour after the game was over, the official scorer gave Johnson an RBI triple, instead of an error on Ankiel) to extend his hitting streak to nine games, with multi-hit games in four of his last six. He (43PAs) and Chris Snyder (14PAs) are the only Astros with 10+PAs to not draw a walk.
*Jose Altuve was 2x4 with a double to bring his slash line to .351/.390/.486. So the first four batters in the lineup were 2x17, with 8K:2BB. The next four batters (Buck-Johnson-Castro-Altuve) were 7x16.
*Speaking of Jason Castro, his 0x4 puts him at .125/.222/.167.
*Man of the Match: Chris Johnson.
*Goat of the Game: Kyle Weiland.
*Tipping Point: It's an easy one, but the bottom of the 6th, when Weiland couldn't put the inning away with two outs. He walked two batters with two outs, and then allowed two hits for four runs. After scratching two runs back to tie the game, Weiland let it slip away.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
