The Dodgers pulled even after Strasburg hit Jerry Hairston Jr. leading off the bottom half. Loney reached on a fielding error by second baseman Danny Espinosa, and Hairston scored on a one-out single to left field by Ellis. Harper made a strong throw to the plate on the fly, but Ramos couldn't handle it cleanly.
"I was trying to make a good throw and I had a good opportunity to try to throw him out," Harper said. "I did the best I could, but it didn't go our way."
Billingsley gave up one run and five hits in seven innings with six strikeouts and a walk. He came in 4-0 with a 2.28 ERA in his four previous starts against Washington at Dodger Stadium.
Notes: Strasburg hit two batters, one more than he plunked in 177 innings over his 21 previous big league starts. But he hasn't allowed a home run in his last 10 starts and 63 1-3 innings since LaRoche took him deep on Aug. 15, 2010 while playing for Arizona. ... Strasburg led off the sixth with an opposite-field double to right-center, his first extra-base hit in 35 career at-bats to that point and the first by a Nationals pitcher this season. ... Billingsley has given up five homers in 30 2-3 innings this season. Last year, he had a homerless stretch of 92 innings. ... Strasburg, who was born in San Diego, made his first start in California. ... The youngest player in the 44-year history of the Montreal/Washington franchise was LHP Balor Moore, who was 19 years and 116 days old when he made his big league debut on May 21, 1970. Harper is 79 days older than Moore was.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Reader Comments