By CHUCKIE MAGGIO
Eleven years after he made a much-anticipated start at Frontier Field, Stephen Strasburg is pitching for the Rochester Red Wings on Sunday. The 32-year-old plans to throw 75 to 80 pitches against the Buffalo Bisons in Trenton.
Strasburg, a 10-year major league veteran who led the National League with 18 victories and 209 innings pitched en route to a World Series championship in 2019, hasn’t pitched for the Washington Nationals since April 13 due to right shoulder inflammation. Strasburg is 0-1 with a 6.30 ERA in two starts this season, but MASN reported he is only expected to require one rehab start with the Red Wings before returning to Washington.
A sold-out Rochester crowd greeted Strasburg on May 20, 2010, when he faced the Red Wings as a member of Triple-A Syracuse. Strasburg was dominant in that outing, striking out nine and allowing just three hits in 6.1 shutout innings. The Nationals’ 2009 first round pick drew 12,590 fans to the ballpark, then the eighth-largest regular season baseball crowd in the park’s history.
Strasburg hopes to provide a temporary reprieve to a pitching staff that ranks 16th of 20 Triple-A East teams in ERA and has issued the fourth-most walks. The 2019 World Series MVP compiled a sterling 1.88 ERA and struck out 61 batters in 48 career Triple-A innings. Though he is not expected to pitch a second rehab outing at Frontier Field, he is the first Nationals star to rehab with the Red Wings in the club’s inaugural season as a Washington affiliate.
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