Stephen Strasburg worked around a two-out walk in a scoreless, 17-pitch first inning in the Washington Nationals’ Grapefruit League matchup with the Houston Astros on Wednesday night, but then the 32-year-old right-hander, in his first start back in game action following an issue with his left calf, had to wait around for 40 minutes as his teammates sent eleven batters to the plate in a five-run bottom of the first.
Going into the outing, manager Davey Martinez said he would, “... try to stretch him out to 80-90 pitches,” in Strasburg’s third start of the spring, after he tested the calf over five up-downs in a sim game and threw 74 pitches this past weekend.