Nats hoping home cooking can spark Strasburg's season (with lineups)

By Josh Land

Nationals

May 17, 2015, 9:59am

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SAN DIEGO - Right-hander Stephen Strasburg is set to make his second career start in his home city. Strasburg attended West Hills High School and San Diego St. University, where the Nationals drafted him from with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 First-Year Player Draft.

strasburg red road throwing sidebar.jpg Strasburg's only start at Petco Park came on May 16, 2013 when he claimed the win after allowing just one earned run on three hits with four strikeouts in eight innings.

The 26-year-old has been slow to find his groove this season. He enters today's start with an uncharacteristically high ERA at 6.06 after being pounded for eight runs (seven earned) on eight hits in only 3 1/3 innings in Tuesday's 14-6 loss to the Diamondbacks.

"Since his last start to this one the only thing that we've talked about with him is being aggressive," Nationals manager Matt Williams said. "Be aggressive with your pitches and go after them. He's got really great stuff. Last time out, he relied a little bit on secondary pitches. But for him, it's always about fastball command and if he's got that then he can be really tough on them."

For the Nationals:

CF Michael A. Taylor
SS Ian Desmond
3B Yunel Escobar
RF Bryce Harper
1B Ryan Zimmerman
LF Tyler Moore
C Jose Lobaton
2B Danny Espinosa
RHP Stephen Strasburg

For the Padres:

3B Cory Spangenberg
CF Abraham Almonte
RF Matt Kemp
LF Justin Upton
1B Yangervis Solarte
C Derek Norris
2B Jedd Gyorko
SS Alexi Amarista
RHP Ian Kennedy