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Strasburg fixes pitch tipping, pitches into ninth in Game 6 gem

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washington nationalsStephen Strasburg didn’t look like he’d get out of the first inning of Game 6. That he pitched into the ninth was the result of a quick fix by pitching coach Paul Menhart.

Menhart noticed that Strasburg was tipping his pitches, and that Houston hitters were picking up on it and taking advantage.

George Springer led off the Astros first with a first-pitch, 112.1-mph rocket off the wall in left. After advancing to third on a wild pitch, he scored on a Jose Altueve sac fly that drove Nats left fielder Juan Soto to the base of the wall in left.

After striking out Michael Brantley, Strasburg fell behind Alex Bregman 2-0 before Bregman took a 94-mph fastball into the seats in left for a 2-1 lead.

Even the third out of the inning, a Yuli Gurriel flyout to left-center, was a near-bomb, pushing Soto to the fence.

The fix that Menhart and Strasburg came up with in the dugout between innings was subtle. Strasburg said he started shaking his glove so Astros hitters wouldn’t know what he was throwing.

“It’s something that has burned me in the past, and it burned me there in the first,” Strasburg said. “It’s just a part of the game, and you gotta do your best to stay consistent in your delivery on each pitch.”

After giving up two runs on two hits in the first, Strasburg allowed just five baserunners – three hits and two walks – over the next seven and a third in the 7-2 Nats win.

“Big pitchers in big moments do what Strasburg did today,” manager Davey Martinez said. “I told him after the game, I said, that was tremendous. You picked us all up, and we’re going to Game 7 because of your performance.”

The win was Strasburg’s fifth in October – he’s 5-0 with a 1.98 ERA, 47 strikeouts and four walks in 36.1 innings.

“Oh, man, super impressed by him,” said Nats third baseman Anthony Rendon, who drove in five of Washington’s seven runs in Game 6. “Not shocked, to say the least. I’ve been watching him for a long time now. He’s had plenty of games like that. I think it’s just been heightened since he’s doing it in the postseason now, especially on the run that we’re on.

“Unbelievable, just to be able to go out there and pitch like that,” Nats Game 7 starter Max Scherzer said. “They came out aggressive against him, but the way he just executed pitches, it was unbelievable.”

Story by Chris Graham

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