Dominating on the mound must be getting boring for Stephen Strasburg. The Nationals hurler decided to do some damage at the plate on Sunday.
Strasburg hit his first career major league home run, giving himself some insurance in what was eventually a 9-3 victory for Washington. The right-hander also struck out eight batters in the win.
Strasburg’s day wasn’t exactly perfect, as manager Davey Johnson was forced to remove him after five innings as a result of tightness in the pitcher’s biceps.
“I don’t care who it was, if I find out they have tightness, they’re out,” Johnson said of removing Strasburg after just 90 pitches. “I talked to [Strasburg] later in the game. He said it relaxed a bit and was a lot better. I’m not as concerned when it’s in the biceps.”
Strasburg wasn’t concerned about the injury either, saying that he’s fine and that he just got a “little tired” and a “little tight.”
The hurler was surprised by his first career blast, though.
“Shocking, that’s for sure,” Strasburg said of the dinger. “I feel like in [batting practice] I have to swing a lot harder to hit it out. I just somehow ran into one.”
Strasburg received a curtain call from the fans in attendance.
Check out the home run and the curtain call in the video below, courtesy of MLB.com
