Five days ago, Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg struck out 12 Marlins batters in a dominant performance. On Tuesday, Strasburg recorded only 12 outs total while allowing six runs on eight hits -- including a massive home run off the bat of Giancarlo Stanton -- in Washington's 11-2 loss to Miami.
MLB news: Stephen Strasburg gets shelled, Prince Fielder finally homers
Stephen Strasburg hates Marlins Park, Prince Fielder ended a long homer-less streak and Mike Leake killed the Pirates with his bat and his arm.
Mike Ehrmann
Strasburg found himself in a jam three pitches into his outing after allowing consecutive hard-hit singles to Christian Yelich and Marcell Ozuna. Before he even got to his eighth pitch of the evening, Strasburg already trailed 3-0 as a result of this shot by Stanton:
Stanton finished with a pair of hits and drove in five. Ozuna added four hits, including one that knocked in a run against Strasburg, while Casey McGehee had three hits, including a two-run single against the Nationals' ace to give Miami a 6-0 lead in the second inning.
Strasburg has now surrendered 22 earned runs in 23 career innings at Marlins Park.
Marlins pitcher Tom Koehler worked seven scoreless innings and drew the ire of the Nationals when a fourth-inning offering to Ian Desmond sailed high and inside, resulting in both benches and bullpens clearing and a warning being issued to each side.
Fielder hits first home run with Rangers
It took 57 plate appearances, but Rangers first baseman Prince Fielder finally has a tally in the home run column in 2014.
Fielder took Mariners starter Blake Beavan deep to lead off the second inning in Texas' 5-0 victory on Tuesday. Fielder entered the game hitting just .176/.263/.235 on the season before depositing Beavan's 1-1 fastball into the center field seats.
Kevin Kouzmanoff went deep in the next at-bat to give the Rangers a quick two-run lead. Robbie Ross tossed 7⅔ scoreless innings as Texas kept Seattle off the board, extending the Mariners' scoreless innings streak to 12 a day after the team snapped a 21-inning scoreless skid.
Leake has a big day with the bat
Reds starter Mike Leake doubled and homered to go along with his 6⅔ inning, eight-strikeout performance in Cincinnati's 7-5 win over the Pirates.
Leake fell behind early after serving up an RBI single to Gaby Sanchez, but he helped his own cause by leading off the third with a double and scoring on Joey Votto's single two batters later. In the sixth, after Todd Frazier gave the Reds a 3-2 lead with a two-run homer off of Pirates starter Gerrit Cole, Leake hit his own two-run shot to give Cincinnati some insurance.
Prior to the start of the Reds’ win, the Pirates finished off the suspended game from Monday between the two teams with a victory behind Russell Martin’s RBI single in the top of the seventh, which was actually the first frame played between the two clubs on Tuesday.
Padres, Headley weren't close in extension talks
The Padres offered Chase Headley a three-year extension worth between $33 and $39 million during the offseason, according to CBS Sports' Jon Heyman.
The two sides reportedly aren’t close, and Headley is already making more than $10 million in his final arbitration season. That suggests the Padres are low-balling their third baseman, who is two years removed from an MVP-caliber season in which he posted a 145 OPS+ with 31 home runs and a league-leading 115 RBI.
Headley struggled while dealing with injuries in 2013 and is off to a slow start this season as well. Meanwhile, the Padres decided to allocate some funds to power-hitting second baseman Jedd Gyorko, who signed a six-year, $35 million extension on Monday.
Springer Houston bound
The Astros plan to call up outfield prospect George Springer on Wednesday, per Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle. Springer, the No. 18 prospect in MLB per Baseball America, was hitting .319/.429/.574 with two home runs in 12 games in Oklahoma City. With 166 days remaining in the season, Springer won't be able to accumulate the 172 days of major league service time needed for a full year, meaning by waiting a few weeks into the season the Astros can now keep Springer from reaching free agency until after the 2020 season.
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