While we knew when Stephen Strasburg was going to make his next injury rehab appearance, it hadn’t been announced where. It’s now official; Strasburg will be making his 6th (and probably final) start for the Nationals’ Double-A affiliate, the Harrisburg Senators.
Thursday’s start will mean that Strasburg has pitched for each of the top three levels of the Nationals’ system on his way back to the bigs. Strasburg began his assignment with 4 appearances at the Single-A level.
Combined, Strasburg logged 9.1 innings while allowing 7 earned runs on 11 hits against A ball competition. The high run total was thanks to one really ugly start, but otherwise Strasburg was solid. The right hander struck out 18 batters while offering only 3 free passes over the 4 game span.
Strasburg saved his most dominant performance for his most recent appearance, when he went 5 innings and allowed 1 ER for the Triple-A Potomac Nationals. Strasburg carried a perfect game into the 6th before allowing a pair of singles. After starting the game by striking out 4 of the first 6 batters he faced, Strasburg ended the night with a total of 7 K’s.
Washington will look for Strasburg throw 75 to 80 pitches or go 6 innings, whichever comes first, during his 6th appearance.
Nothing has been announced, but the Nationals are expected to recall Strasburg soon following Thursday’s start. With Jordan Zimmermann having reached his innings limit for the year, Strasburg would likely slide in to fill his rotation spot.
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