It looked at the start like it might be a brief outing for Stephen Strasburg last night in New York's Citi Field.
Two innings in, the 26-year-old Washington Nationals' right-hander was up to 52 pitches and down 2-0 after he gave up back-to-back one-out doubles by Mets' shortstop Wilmer Flores and catcher Kevin Plawecki, respectively, and a two-out RBI single to right by Curtis Granderson.
Over the next three innings, however, as the Nats rallied to take a 5-2 lead, Strasburg settled in, with 11, 13 and 18-pitch innings before he gave up back-to-back singles in the bottom of the sixth.