Despite brief bout of back spasms, Strasburg in peak form

He may not have the ability to do it consistently every fifth day like Max Scherzer. But there are times, when he has everything working in sync, in which Stephen Strasburg can dominate an opposing lineup like nobody else.

And there were times this evening in which that was the case.

As Nationals manager Dusty Baker put it: "He had it going on tonight."

Save for a mid-game blip in which back spasms may have affected him, Strasburg started and finished against the Cubs in absolute peak form. He retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced, striking out seven. And he retired the last eight batters he faced, striking out four.

Put it all together, and you've got 13 strikeouts in seven impressive innings, more than enough to lead the Nationals to an 8-4 victory over the Cubs.

"Stras is really good," teammate Bryce Harper said. "He's one of the best pitchers in baseball. That's why he's 9-2. He does his job every single time he goes out there."

Crazy as it sounds, people do need to be reminded of that sometimes. Because Scherzer gets the lion's share of the attention these days, and because Strasburg's career has been interrupted multiple times due to injuries, it can be easy to forget the big picture and remember just how good this right-hander is.

Any stat that emphasizes pitcher wins needs to be taken with a full teaspoon of salt, but the fact is Strasburg is 24-6 over the last two seasons, with an .800 winning percentage bested by only one other starter in baseball (Toronto's Aaron Sanchez, who is 15-3 for an .833 winning percentage).

Strasburg also has struck out 10.97 batters per nine innings over the last two years, a rate bested in the National League only by Scherzer and Arizona's Robbie Ray (a former Nationals draft pick).

Maybe he hasn't proven he can do it 32 times a season, every season. But when he's out there, he's still awfully good.

Strasburg had the look right from the outset tonight, showing command of all three of his primary pitches, pumping in 97 mph fastballs, knee-buckling curveballs and devastating changeups that topped out at 92 mph.

That kind of arsenal left the Cubs lineup - with no shortage of talented hitters - flailing away helplessly.

"When he can throw his breaking ball for strikes in 2-0 and 2-1 counts, it's going to make a hitter have to choose whether he wants to sit hard or sit on the breaking ball," batterymate Matt Wieters said. "As a catcher, it gives you a lot of options, and you just try to read what the hitter's trying to do from there."

Strasburg wasn't 100 percent the entire night. Prior to the fourth inning, he started experiencing back spasms. He wound up surrendering a double to Kris Bryant and a homer to Willson Contreras after that.

"It was just like sitting down between innings, just kind of felt it mid-back," he said. "Just kind of got tight. The first couple throws warming up, going back out there, felt it a little bit. Just tried to mentally not let it affect me. And I think it kind of helped. It slowed everything down a little bit, especially after a couple runs scored there in the middle innings."

It didn't take Strasburg long to rediscover his peak form. After giving up a leadoff double in the fifth, he retired 10 of the next 11 batters he faced, the lone blemish a fielding error on Ryan Zimmerman.

By the time the game ended, Strasburg was back in the clubhouse, having already received treatment that he said helped his back feel better, leaving him with little reason to be concerned moving forward.

"It's just about staying up on top of it and doing some exercises over the course of the next few weeks and the rest of the season, just to kind of make sure everything's firing correctly," he said. "I think the biggest thing is not slouching over so much, too, when I'm sitting down on the bench."

Strasburg shouldn't need to slouch ever. The man is 9-2 with a 3.51 ERA this season, 77-43 with a 3.21 ERA in his career.

He can stand tall and proud.