May 21, 2021: Stephen Strasburg returns to Nationals for first win since World Series run

“Stephen Strasburg should be remembered for what he is: an excellent pitcher who once electrified this town but whose body betrayed him. I hope he’s able to see that, too.” – Barry Svrluga, Washington Post1

There is always a buzz in the air when the Baltimore Orioles come to Nationals Park to play the Washington Nationals. The MLB-coined Battle of the Beltways became engrained in baseball lexicon in 2006, one year after the Montreal Expos franchise relocated to Washington, DC. As part of interleague scheduling, the two teams were designated as “natural rivals” to meet every year in a home-and-home series.

On this night in May 2021, it did not matter that both teams were residing in last place in their respective divisions. Pandemic-driven attendance limitations were being eased and masking requirements were being relaxed so the largest crowd of the season at Nationals Park to date (14,369) could also anticipate the return of Stephen Strasburg to the mound.2 Injuries continued to plague Strasburg. The start against the Orioles was only his fifth since the Game Six gem that propelled Strasburg to the 2019 World Series MVP award.3 The 2009 first overall draft choice and lifetime National signed a record-breaking new contract less than six weeks after that World Series – seven years, $245 million.4

After two early-August starts and only five innings pitched in the late-opening 2020 season, Strasburg required carpal tunnel surgery on his hand to correct numbness in his thumb when he pitched.5 When he returned in April 2021, velocity and command issues after two starts (10 innings pitched) suggested another injury concern and Strasburg went on the 10-day injured list on April 18 with shoulder inflammation.6

Tonight Strasburg was back, facing Jorge López (1-4, 6.35 ERA), in his first full season with the Orioles. Lopez had been selected off waivers from the Kansas City Royals in August 2020. Baltimore was already nine games under .500, bound for its third season of 108 or more losses in four years.

Strasburg got off to a great start. Through the first four innings, he faced only one batter above the minimum, yielding only one hit and issuing one walk. Anthony Santander singled to center to open the second inning but was erased on an inning-ending double play. Strasburg walked two batters in the fifth but struck out López to end the inning.

The Nationals had their chances to score first in the early going against López. Their best one came in the second inning when Starlin Castro opened with a walk and Josh Harrison followed with a single. First and second, no outs. Castro moved to third when Yan Gomes’ grounder forced Harrison at second, but advanced no farther. In fact, over the first four innings, López ended each inning with a strikeout, six in total, and the Nationals stranded six baserunners.

The Nationals finally broke through the scoreless game in the bottom of the fifth with consecutive two-out doubles. After Josh Bell’s line drive down the right-field line, Kyle Schwarber hit another line drive to right, scoring Bell. Castro’s infield single advanced Schwarber to third, from where he scored on Harrison’s single to right. Nationals led, 2-0.

When Strasburg issued his fourth walk, to Austin Hays with one out in the sixth, Kyle Finnegan replaced him. Appreciative of his return performance, fans gave Strasburg a standing ovation back to the dugout after 72 pitches and four strikeouts.7 For certain, it wasn’t like the dominating performances of the 2019 postseason, 47 strikeouts in 36⅓ innings pitched. After all, it was in 2019 that Strasburg reached 1,500 career strikeouts in fewer innings (1,272⅓) than any other pitcher in major-league history. After the game, Nationals manager Dave Martinez shared his perspective with the press: “Now we’ve just got to build him up and keep him healthy.”8 Who could disagree?

Trey Mancini greeted Finnegan with a line-drive double down the right-field line, but a Juan Soto-to-Bell-to-Gomes throw nailed Hays at the plate. Finnegan struck out Santander to end the inning.

The Nationals added to their lead in the sixth when Tyler Wells replaced López on the mound. Yadiel Hernández opened with a single and was sacrificed to second by Andrew Stevenson. Soto’s single to left field scored Hernández with the third Nationals’ run.

After Wander Suero and Daniel Hudson pitched three-up-three-down seventh and eighth innings, the Nationals added their fourth run in the eighth. Ryan Zimmerman, pinch-hitting for Hudson, opened with a single to left. After relief pitcher Shawn Armstrong walked Soto with two outs, Bell’s single to right scored Zimmerman.

Brad Hand was asked to close the ninth in a nonsave situation. Mancini lined a double to right-center. With two outs, Freddy Galvis’s sixth homer of the season gave the Orioles their two runs before Hand retired Maikel Franco on a groundout to preserve the win for Strasburg, his first since 2019.

Was injury misfortune still ahead for Strasburg? He was back in the pitching rotation, but in his third start since his return, he left the game in the second inning and was placed on the 10-day injured list with a neck strain, an MRI revealing nerve irritation in his neck.9 By July, Strasburg’s season was over after 5 starts and 21⅔ innings when he underwent surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome to address the nerve issue.10

After the long recovery process from surgery well into the 2022 season, Strasburg took the mound in Miami in early June. He yielded seven runs on eight hits in 4⅔ innings, losing 9-5 to the Marlins. He felt only general fatigue after 83 pitches, but he was back on the injured list with shoulder discomfort after his next bullpen session.11 That lone appearance on the mound in 2022, weeks before his 34th birthday, was to be the last time he pitched.

There are numerous ways to look at Strasburg’s pitching career. By the numbers is one – 113 wins and 62 losses, a 3.24 ERA in 247 games, and 1,723 strikeouts in 1,470 innings pitched. Another one seems more appropriate for an essay about his last victory.

The chronology of baseball history will always show that major-league baseball returned to Washington in 2005. Those at the Washington Post who have covered the Washington Nationals from the outset have a unique perspective on the chronology of baseball’s return to Washington.

Stephen Strasburg’s debut12 on June 8, 2010, at Nationals Park complete with 14 strikeouts, 100-mph fastballs, 40,315 fans, and an electric atmosphere changed Washington baseball. In pondering the Nationals as the talk of baseball, Post columnist Barry Svrluga wrote, “Before that night, they seemed bumbling, hopeless, inherently limited. ‘Strasmas’ changed that.”13

Thomas Boswell thought of his professional colleagues. “From Opening Day of 2005 to the day Strasburg pitched his first game it’s possible that I never saw a single one of my lifelong national-baseball-writer friends inside RFK Stadium or at the new Nationals Park. … Strasburg put the Nats back on the baseball map.”14

Strasburg’s 13 seasons with the Nationals meant four National League East Division titles, five postseason appearances for the Nationals, and the unforgettable 2019 World Series title. His impact on franchise history is unassailable.

Author’s note

Several SABR Games Project authors have written about Stephen Strasburg. Two examples to illustrate his pitching exploits include:

• October 11, 2017: Too sick to pitch? Strasburg has last laugh against Cubs in NLDS (Don Zminda)
• May 2, 2019: Stephen Strasburg reaches 1,500 strikeouts in fewest innings (Laura H. Peebles)

The author’s trips to the ballpark as a Nationals fan provided many occasions to sit in the stands and watch Strasburg pitch. The SABR Games Project provides an opportunity to share three such experiences with others:

• June 8, 2010: Stephen Strasburg strikes out 14 in MLB debut
• April 1, 2013: Strasburg’s pitching, Harper’s two homers propel Nats to Opening Day win
• October 1, 2019: Wild-card win launches Nationals’ run to World Series title

Thank you, Stephen Strasburg!

Acknowledgments

This essay was fact-checked by Laura Peebles and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

The author accessed Baseball-Reference.com for box scores/play-by-play information (baseball-reference.com/boxes/WAS/WAS202105210.shtml) and other data, as well as Retrosheet.org (retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2021/B05210WAS2021.htm). The 2022 Topps baseball card for Stephen Strasburg (#WAS-4) is from the author’s collection.

Notes

1 Barry Svrluga, “Stephen Strasburg’s Legacy Is What He Did, Not What He Couldn’t Do,” Washington Post, June 6, 2023, washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/06/06/stephen-strasburg-contract-nationals/.

2 Gene Wang, “Stephen Strasburg, Looking Like His Old Self, Leads Nationals Past Orioles,” Washington Post, May 21, 2021, washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/05/21/nationals-orioles-strasburg-returns/.

3 Steven C. Weiner, “October 29, 2019: Stephen Strasburg’s Game 6 gem pushes World Series to the limit,” SABR Baseball Games Project.

4 Jesse Dougherty, “Nationals and Stephen Strasburg agree to Seven-Year, $245 Million Deal,” Washington Post, December 9, 2019, washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/12/09/stephen-strasburg-contract-nationals/.

5 Andy Kostka, “Neck Strain Just the Latest Injury Hiccup in Strasburg’s 12-Year MLB Career,” Washington Times, June 3, 2021, washingtontimes.com/news/2021/jun/3/timeline-stephen-strasburgs-ample-trips-injured-li/.

6 Kostka.

7 Wang.

8 Wang.

9 Kostka.

10 Jesse Dougherty, “The Nationals’ Stephen Strasburg Will Have Season-Ending Surgery for Thoracic Outlet Syndrome,” Washington Post, July 27, 2021, washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/07/27/nationals-stephen-strasburg-surgery/. Teammate Will Harris had undergone similar surgery by vascular surgeon Gregory Paul one month earlier. Dougherty points out that surgery for Harris was to address blockage in an artery while Strasburg’s surgery was attempting to address a nerve issue.

11 Jesse Dougherty, “Stephen Strasburg Will Return to the Injured List After Just One Start,” Washington Post, June 14, 2022, washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/06/13/stephen-strasburg-injured-list-mri/. Jesse Dougherty, “Stephen Strasburg Gave His Body to Baseball. Now His Future Is A Mystery.” Washington Post, September 16, 2022, washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/16/stephen-strasburg-injury-recovery/.

12 Steven C. Weiner, “June 8, 2010: Stephen Strasburg strikes out 14 in MLB debut,” SABR Baseball Games Project.

13 Barry Svrluga, “Retiring Strasburg Changed Washington Baseball Forever,” Washington Post, August 25, 2023: A1.

14 Thomas Boswell, email to author, June 2, 2017.