Nationals game blog: Will Nats' offense come alive for Stephen Strasburg?

By Josh Land

Nationals

October 01, 2015, 3:02pm

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Stephen Strasburg enters his final outing of the season red hot, having allowed just five earned runs while fanning 50 batters over four starts this month.

But if the Nationals are going to make Strasburg a winner in his finale, they will need to step up their offense. Through the first two losses against the Braves, the Nats have barely lit up the scoreboard, scoring just one run - on Trea Turner's first major league homer - over the last 18 innings.

The lack of offensive production hasn't been without opportunity. The Nationals are just 1-for-18 with runners in scoring position and have left 13 men on base over the last two games.

Jayson Werth had experienced a resurgence this season, batting .303 with eight homers, one triple, 10 doubles, 20 RBIs and 25 runs scored in 30 games between Aug. 18 and Sept. 18. But Werth has struggled over his last 10 games, slashing just .158/.238/.289 with one home run, four RBIs and 13 strikeouts.

Strasburg's four-start streak of 10-plus strikeouts is the longest in Nationals history (2005-pre and the second-longest streak in MLB this year, behind CWS Chris Sale (8 games). Since 2005, only five pitchers have put together a streak of 10-plus strikeouts of four games or more: Chris Sale (2015; 8 games), David Price (2014; 5 games), Jon Lester (2015; 4 games), Jake Peavy (2007; 4 games).