Strasburg's latest gem leads Nationals to 2-1 win over Marlins

MIAMI - Stephen Strasburg once again dominated an opposing lineup. And once again appeared to deal with a cramp in his right calf, cutting short a start that could've turned into another gem.

Strasburg tossed six scoreless innings, extending his now club-record streak of consecutive zeros to 26, before departing with a recurrence of the leg cramp that knocked him out of a start in Houston two weeks ago. No matter, because the Nationals bullpen closed out a 2-1 victory over the Marlins to move this team another step closer to an inevitable National League East title.

A second-inning RBI single by Pedro Severino and an eighth-inning insurance home run by Daniel Murphy accounted for all the offense the Nationals needed to win their fifth straight game against Miami and reduce their magic number to eight.

Strasburg again was the big story, both for his performance - six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts - and for his early exit. Despite recent physical issues, though, the right-hander has been unflappable on the mound. With 26 consecutive scoreless innings, he now owns the club record previously established by teammate Gio Gonzalez in 2012.

Strasburg also now owns a 12-4 record and 2.78 ERA, good enough for fourth place in the National League (behind Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer and Gonzalez).

Six days after recording only the second complete of his career, Strasburg took the mound to face the same Marlins lineup. And he quickly reestablished his ability to thwart these hitters, including the almighty Giancarlo Stanton.

Stanton went 0-for-3 against Strasburg (after going 0-for-4 against him last week) and struck out on a wicked curveball in the bottom of the first. He later skied a fly ball to center and grounded out to second, causing no damage.

Strasburg's command was on point - 60 of his 90 pitches went for strikes, and he didn't walk anybody - but he actually didn't have one clean inning, allowing one single apiece in each of his six frames.

By the fifth, he was starting to favor his lower right leg, prompting pitching coach Mike Maddux and director of athletic training Paul Lessard to head to the mound to check on him. Strasburg stayed in and finished out the inning, then returned for the bottom of the sixth.

The right-hander continued to favor his leg in the sixth, most notably when it landed on his follow-through, but he waved off Lessard and finished the inning by striking out J.T. Realmuto, his eighth of the night.

At that point, the Nationals decided not to push Strasburg any further. Wilmer Difo pinch-hit for him in the top of the seventh, and Sammy Solís entered from the bullpen for the bottom of the inning.

The bullpen's margin for error was razor-thin, because the Nationals managed only one run in seven innings against Odrisamer Despaigne, the journeyman right-hander who had previously faced them out of the bullpen but has now taken over in the Marlins rotation due to injuries.

Adam Lind's second-inning double and Severino's RBI single accounted for the lone run, and the Nationals rarely threatened to score again. Until the eighth, that is, when Murphy hammered a pitch from reliever Kyle Barraclough to right field for his second homer in as many nights, giving his team a key insurance run.

That provided some cushion for Solís, who pitched the seventh and then returned to retire Dee Gordon to open the eighth, and Matt Albers, who struck out Stanton and got Christian Yelich to fly out in the eighth.

Sean Doolittle, making a rare back-to-back appearance, gave up a harmless run in the ninth to record his 15th save in as many opportunities since joining the Nationals in mid-July.