A heck of a six innings for Strasburg (Nats beat Sox 7-4)

BOSTON - A career-high 119 pitches. A stretch of 11 straight hitters retired. A span of 12 outs in which 10 were strikeouts. A ridiculous 13 strikeouts in six innings. A K of Kevin Youkilis to get out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth. Yeah, it was an eventful evening for Stephen Strasburg. The Nationals' ace put up a double-digit strikeout performance for the fifth time in his career, and tonight's 13 strikeouts is the second-most he's recorded in a game. The highest Strasburg strikeout total, of course, came back in his major league debut. It just so happens that said debut came two years ago today. Strasburg has a thing for June 8, I guess. The strikeout of Youkilis wasn't without incident; the veteran infielder thought the called third strike was low, and he shared his feelings with home plate umpire Doug Eddings. The manner in which Youkilis expressed his frustration was not well-received by Eddings, and he kindly asked Youkilis to leave tonight's ballgame. For what it's worth, the Strasburg pitch was borderline, but looked to get just enough of the strike zone. It was a close pitch, but a pitch which was certainly too close to take with a full count and the bases loaded. The Nats lead 7-2 as we go to the bottom of the seventh inning in Fenway. Washington is out-hitting their hosts 11-4. Bryce Harper is now 3-for-4 with three RBIs, and he's just a triple shy of the cycle. Update: Harper didn't record the cycle. What a failure tonight was for the Nationals. Jokes aside, with Strasburg and Harper leading the way, this was a pretty impressive performance by Davey Johnson's bunch. They rattled off 13 hits, seven of which went for extra-bases, and picked up a 7-4 win over the Red Sox. For the time being, the Nats are now a game-and-a-half up on the Braves in the National League East.