Strasburg's gutsy effort includes 119 pitches and a homer

PHILADELPHIA - His pitch count over 110, his left calf cramping up each time he finished his delivery and his gray Nationals jersey soaked through on a humid night at Citizens Bank Park, Stephen Strasburg looked done during the bottom of the sixth Friday night.

And when Dusty Baker, Mike Maddux and Paul Lessard emerged from the visitors' dugout upon seeing Strasburg in some amount of discomfort, the right-hander's night figured to be over.

Strasburg, however, had other ideas. He glared as his manager, pitching coach and trainer, and tried to wave them off. He wasn't coming out of this game, not at that moment.

"I mean, he wanted it, big time," Baker said. "First time I've seen him kind of mad and showing emotion, which is fine with me."

Maybe Strasburg showed off a new personality trait Friday night, one rarely on display throughout his time in Washington. If anyone had questioned whether the pitcher was capable of conveying those kind of emotions within a game, he provided a fairly definitive answer.

And when he struck out Freddy Galvis on his 119th pitch of the night, Strasburg had revealed another new side of him. Matching his career high in pitches thrown, he proved Friday he's capable of giving that little bit extra needed to get through a tough spot.

"You want to be in those situations," he said. "They were putting together grind-it-out at-bats. Got to make the next pitch, got to make the next pitch. The calf started to spasm a little bit on me, but I just got to find a way."

Strasburg found a way to be plenty effective, even if it required more effort than he or the Nationals might typically prefer. With the Phillies fouling off pitches and grinding out long at-bats, Strasburg's pitch count kept climbing.

And yet, when he finally departed with two outs in the sixth, not one Philadelphia runner had crossed the plate.

This was the first time in six starts this season Strasburg failed to complete seven innings. But it was also the first time he gave up fewer than two runs.

It was a gutsy performance to cap a week of similar performances by members of the Nationals rotation. With his bullpen changing on a nightly basis, Baker has been forced to push his starters more than he might want to at this early stage of the season.

Tanner Roark threw 125 pitches over six innings on Tuesday. Gio Gonzalez needed 105 pitches to complete five innings on Wednesday. Max Scherzer tossed 107 pitches in seven innings Thursday. And now Strasburg threw 119 pitches in 5 2/3 innings Friday.

"It's a fine line, because we don't like doing that," Baker said. "I mean, Tanner actually thanked me for extending him some. And Stras wanted it tonight. ... They know our bullpen's hurting. So these guys are willing to pick each other up, and it's our job not to extend them too far, because you don't want to hurt them, and we've still got a long way to go. But these guys, they're giving me all I can ask for."

Strasburg delivered for the Nationals not only on the mound but also at the plate. He hammered a down-and-in pitch from Phillies starter Nick Pivetta deep to left-center, circling the bases after only his second career homer (the previous one came against the Orioles on May 20, 2012).

"Lucky," he insisted. "No business swinging at that pitch, No. 1. I don't really know how I connected on it. I was just fortunate I was able to get to it, I guess."

There was no luck involved in Strasburg's pitching performance. He made it clear he was going to give his team everything he had. And so when the time finally came to depart, his manager made sure to look him in the eye and thank him for the effort.

"I just told him: 'Hey man, that's the way to gut it out,' " Baker said. "I just wanted him to know that we all appreciated what he was doing and attempted to do."