Stephen Strasburg struck out 14 Marlins in eight shutout innings and drove in a run with a second-inning single in a 7-0 Washington Nationals win over the Miami Marlins on Saturday night.
Strasburg (16-5, 3.47 ERA) gave up back-to-back singles with one out in the first inning to Harold Ramirez and Starlin Castro, but induced an inning-ending double-play grounder by Neil Walker.
The Marlins wouldn’t get another baserunner until the ninth, as Strasburg retired the last 22 batters he faced.
Anthony Rendon homered twice for the Nats (30, 31), and is now tied for the MLB lead in RBIs with 109. Rendon’s 2-for-3 night raised his MLB-leading batting average to .335.
Juan Soto also had two hits and a homer, his 30th.
The Nats (76-58), as usual, were not able to gain ground on Atlanta in the NL East, with the Braves winning, yet again, 11-5, over the Chicago White Sox, to maintain a five and a half game lead.
Washington has won 15 of its last 18 games dating back to Aug. 11, but Atlanta has gone 14-4 over that same stretch.
The Nationals are seven games clear of Philadelphia and Arizona in the NL wild-card race.
Story by Chris Graham
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