Stras-bomb! Stephen Strasburg hit his first home run in five years
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The Nationals haven't needed too much help on offense so far this season. Entering tonight, they led all of baseball with 179 runs and an .857 OPS. So it's just gravy whenever one of their pitchers can contribute to the cause.
During Friday night's 4-2 win over the Phillies, Stephen Strasburg felt like doing just that -- doubling the Nationals' 1-0 lead in the top of the second. Give him credit -- he really went down and got this pitch from Nick Pivetta:
That's the type of swing usually prefaced with a "Fore!"
Truthfully, Strasburg was surprised that it all worked out so well. "Lucky. No business swinging at that pitch, number one," he said to MLB.com's Jamal Collier. "I don't really know how I connected on it. I was just fortunate I was able to get to it, I guess."
Strasburg's second career homer was a long time coming -- 286 plate appearances, to be exact. His last home run came five years ago this month, back on May 20, 2012 against the Orioles and Wei-Yin Chen.
Strasburg has made his homers count, as both of them increased his lead from one run to two. Neither were cheap shots, either, as the one tonight traveled 404 feet, and the 2012 bomb cleared the 377-foot sign at Nationals Park.
Let's just hope it doesn't take Strasburg until May 2022 to go deep again because he clearly has some pop in his bat!