Fedde, bats save the day after Strasburg leaves early (updated)

BALTIMORE - Given the negative developments that already taken place over the preceding hours since they arrived at Camden Yards for 1 4/9 games of baseball, the Nationals would have been excused if they all threw up their hands in disgust at the sight of Stephen Strasburg walking off the mound with a trainer in the bottom of the first and decided to pack it in for the rest of the night.

An early season of injuries, postponements and erratic play had now taken down one of their aces, who appears to be suffering from a recurrence of the nerve issue in his right hand that prevented him from making his first two starts of 2020. The Nats had every right to be down in the dumps.

And then Erick Fedde took over for Strasburg and turned in what might as well have been a quality start as emergency reliever. And a lineup invigorated by the addition of 20-year-old infielder Luis García enjoyed some sustained success against the Orioles pitching staff en route to a 15-3 laugher on the road.

It was a most unexpected positive twist to close out what had been a dreary day and night for the Nationals, who somehow come out of it with a 7-10 record and Patrick Corbin and Max Scherzer set to pitch the rest of the weekend.

"It was difficult," manager Davey Martinez said of the day as a whole during his postgame Zoom session with reporters. "We lose our starting second baseman and half a game, and then Stephen goes down. But you know what, it ended up very good. We got a victory. We'll come back tomorrow and do it again."

This had already been a long and disappointing day for the Nationals, who lost the completed portion of the suspended game they played, then lost second baseman Starlin Castro to a broken right wrist. Throw in a nearly two-hour rain delay before the regularly scheduled nightcap could begin, and it's fair to wonder how many folks in the visiting clubhouse at Camden Yards were in a good mood.

And then it got worse. Strasburg didn't look entirely right from the get-go, his fastball registering 91-92 mph, his command off. He served up a towering home run to Anthony Santander that landed on the flag court beyond the right field wall, giving the Orioles an early 1-0 lead.

And then after throwing a pitch to José Iglesias, Strasburg shook his right hand. His next pitch, a curveball, bounced in the dirt. And by the time he fell behind 2-0 to cleanup hitter Rio Ruiz, it was clear something was wrong.

"I was watching him," Martinez said. "Honestly, I didn't like what I saw."

So Martinez and director of athletic training Paul Lessard went to the mound to check on the 32-year-old ace, and moments later Lessard returned to the dugout with the disheartened pitcher, done after only 16 pitches.

Strasburg indeed was dealing with a recurrence of the pain in his right hand that sidelined him at the start of the season. The Nationals don't know an immediate course of action for their $245 million pitcher, but it won't involve him pitching again until he's 100 percent healthy.

"We really need to look at this very closely and see what happens the next few days," Martinez said. "I'm not going to run him out there like that. He was upset. He wanted to be out there. But I'm not going to see him go through that. He's one of our best. To see him gut it out like that, I appreciated it, we all did. But we have to take care of him."

Strasburg declined to speak to reporters after the game, typically a standard practice for any starting pitcher. A club spokesperson said he will speak once he has a clearer understanding of his condition and a plan for his recovery.

As concerned as he was for Strasburg, Martinez also had to be concerned for what was now required of his bullpen: 25 outs only hours after that group needed to record eight outs to complete the suspended game, on the heels of back-to-back short starts in New York by Aníbal Sánchez and Austin Voth.

Little could he have known Fedde would take care of a huge chunk of the workload all by himself.

The right-hander, who admits he's gotten used to the idea of pitching wherever, whenever and however he's needed, finished the first for Strasburg. Then he really got down to business.

Fedde pitched a scoreless second, a scoreless third, a scoreless fourth, a scoreless fifth and a scoreless sixth. Yes, that's 5 1/3 scoreless innings of two-hit ball on a mere 69 pitches. Only two days after he threw 32 pitches in relief. That would qualify as the sixth-longest start by the Nationals this season, if it was a start.

"When you get that opportunity, just look at it as try to be efficient, help the guys out in the bullpen and go as far as I could," Fedde said. "Actually, I felt pretty good. I guess that's uncharted territory for me, in a sense. I definitely wasn't expecting 5 1/3, but luckily I was able to be really efficient and get through that."

It was everything the Nats needed and more, and it allowed Martinez to use his bullpen in more conventional fashion the rest of the way.

It also helped that the Nationals finally sustained an offensive attack against Tommy Milone, who one week earlier shut them out over six innings. Not this time. They scored a pair in the second when Yan Gomes' sinking liner to right scooted past a diving Santander for the catcher's first triple in four years.

And then they kept adding on. Four singles - including García's first career hit, a very Juan Soto-esque single to the opposite field - produced three more runs in the third. Two singles and two sacrifices brought home another run in the fourth and made it 6-1 against Milone.

Asdrúbal Cabrera's leadoff homer in the seventh off a lefty - his sixth extra-base hit in 16 at-bats versus southpaws this season - kept the onslaught going. And a six-run top of the eighth that included García's first career double and two RBIs put a final stamp on a day that had too many aggravating moments yet somehow still ended with a satisfying victory.

"I was very excited and thank God for the opportunity to play up here in the big leagues," García said via interpreter Octavio Martinez. "A moment that I only dreamed of. After I got the base hit, I even relaxed more than I was to begin with. I was very excited to be able to help the team win today."