Harper fine after awkward fall, Mets shell Strasburg, Roark

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - Right-hander Stephen Strasburg returned to the mound after missing his last start due to a sprained left ankle. He was rolling until the third inning when right fielder Curtis Granderson and third baseman David Wright tagged him for back-to-back home runs as the Mets went on to beat the Nats 10-2. Strasburg ended up pitching four innings while allowing four runs on four hits with two walks and two strikeouts.

"(Strasburg) wasn't throwing it exactly where he wanted to throw it," said Nationals manager Matt Williams. "But we got him to 70 pitches, which is important. Ankle's fine. So all's good there.

"He was throwing all of his pitches. For me, he looked great. It's a little rust. You take that time off in the middle of the spring, you're not going to be pinpoint coming back through it. But we got him through, which is good. That's all we were looking for."

Strasburg agreed with his manager on the importance of the workload since he is one start behind his rotation-mates with just nine days left before opening day.

"It was good to get the pitch count back up there," said Strasburg. "Obviously cruising early and then one bad inning. Got the pitches and I'm sure I'll feel a lot better next time."

Strasburg indicated that he could still feel the effects of his injury from eight days ago during today's outing.

"It's kind of like a trust factor," said Strasburg. "You sprain your ankle really bad you're bracing for it so it's hard to get over that. I didn't really feel anything alarming so it's progress. I've just gotta keep going out there and I'm sure it'll be an afterthought soon."

There was a scary moment in the bottom of the sixth when Mets first baseman Lucas Duda smoked a ball just inside the bag and down the right field line. As right fielder Bryce Harper approached the ball, his feet gave out on the warning track gravel landing Harper on his backside with his hands extended to brace his fall. He jumped up and chased the ball down before firing a throw in that was too late before Duda reached third with a triple. There was a pitching change immediately after the play and during the delay Harper was doubled over and flexing his right hand. This prompted Williams and the team trainer to jog out to right field to check on Harper. He assured them he was good and stayed in the game.

"The ball just took a funny hop and he slipped," said Williams. "The track here is a lot of gravel and he slipped, but no issues. He jarred himself a little bit, but he was fine coming out. He had another at-bat. He was good."

Moments before, Harper had launched a majestic home run that smacked off the roof of the right field bar at Tradition Field landing in a forest of palm trees. It was Harper's second homer this spring to go along with four RBIs and a .242 batting average.

"When he's quiet with his lower half, everything works together really well for him," said Williams. "He's at that 40-plus at-bat mark now and starting to see it better. The lefty, he took some pitches down in the zone for the walk. I think he's right where he needs to be.

"He's one of those fortunate guys who doesn't have to swing hard to hit it over the fence. It happens naturally for him. So the quieter he is on his lower half, the better. He was really quiet on that at-bat. He took a couple changeups that were off the plate and got a good one to hit."

That was the only run the Nats had until the ninth when left fielder Tyler Moore and first baseman Clint Robinson teamed up for consecutive doubles. When Moore crossed the plate it was just the sixth run the Nats have scored in the past 36 innings over four games.

"I'm not concerned about it," said Williams. "The only thing I would be concerned about is if we provide ourselves opportunities and we don't come through in those opportunities. For me right now, it's about if we've got a guy on second, let's get him to third. If we've got a guy on third, let's get him in.

"Granted, late in the game we had a lot of minor leaguers in the game. It's good that they're getting at-bats in this scenario, too. But on any given day in spring training, you don't have your regular lineup out there. I'm just concerned about the quality of our at-bats and us being competitive up there every at-bat. Like today, Clint had a fantastic day. Wilson (Ramos) looked good. Bryce looked good. T-Mo looked good. So we're encouraged by that."

As far as Robinson, the big man is making a case to be kept on the opening day roster. Robinson showed up at Nats camp relatively unknown having played just 13 total games in the majors despite being 30-years-old. He went 2-for-4 today to raise his spring average to .349. Today's double was Robinson's fifth of the exhibition season to go along with a triple, two homers and eight RBIs.

"He had a really good day today," said Williams. "Four quality at-bats. He squared every ball up, laid off a couple tough pitches just off the zone. I thought he swung the bat really well. He's aggressive. He's not waiting around. And the first one that gets in there in his happy zone, he takes a whack at it. He swung the bat really well. The two balls he hit the other way are indicative of him seeing the ball really well. Great at-bats."

The 6-foot-5-inch Robinson's chances are improved by his ability to bring a left-handed bat to a Nats team desperately lacking in them especially with the injuries to outfielders Denard Span and Nate McLouth.

Right-hander Tanner Roark had a tough day. He gave up five runs, two earned on five hits including two homers in just 1 1/3 innings. He's now served up five dingers over 11 1/3 innings this exhibition season as he continues to get acclimated to his new bullpen role.

"His command hasn't been as sharp as it's normally been," said Williams. "But it's a little bit of getting used to the bullpen. It's a little bit of trying to find his rhythm down there getting loose. All of those things are important. So the more experience he gets, the better he'll be. I'm not concerned about it."

The seemingly always positive Roark wasn't particularly pleased with his outing.

"I don't like giving up runs or giving up anybody else's runs. It can be frustrating, but you've just got to fight through it. You know your stuff's there. You know your command's there. You know all your pitches are there. You've just got to stay confident, keep going."