Strasburg ties record, Zimmerman homers again (Nats lose 2-1)

LOS ANGELES - Stephen Strasburg has reached an impressive career milestone. Ryan Zimmerman is well on his way to surpassing one of his own.

Strasburg completed his 1,000th career inning pitched early in today's game against the Dodgers, and his strikeout of Corey Seager in the bottom of the first helped him match a major league record. With 1,666 strikeouts, Strasburg tied Kerry Wood for the most strikeouts by any big league starter in his first 1,000 innings.

It's been a winding path for Strasburg since he first debuted with a dramatic, 14-strikeout performance in his 2010 debut. But through the ups and downs, successes and injuries, he always has shown the ability to pile up strikeouts.

Strasburg needed one more in his first 1 1/3 innings today to surpass Wood and hold the record for himself, but he recorded his three other outs via batted balls. (Sure enough, Strasburg struck out Logan Forsythe one batter after reaching 1,000 career innings.)

The all-time strikeout record for any pitcher's first 1,000 innings is held by reliever Billy Wagner, who retired with 1,196 strikeouts in 903 innings.

Strasburg has opened his afternoon with three scoreless innings against the Dodgers, allowing only one single, holding up his end of the bargain in a marquee pitching matchup against Clayton Kershaw.

Kershaw has six strikeouts through his first three innings, but he served up the day's lone run, courtesy Zimmerman.

Pouncing on a first-pitch fastball in the top of the second, Zimmerman blasted a home run down the left field line to put the Nationals ahead 1-0. It was Zimmerman's 17th homer of the season, his most since 2013, even though the Nats today are playing only their 58th game of 2017.

Zimmerman's career-best is 33 homers, set in 2009. He has a long way to go, but he's currently on pace to hit 47 homers this year.

Update: Through six innings, this matchup has lived up to the hype. The Nats held their 1-0 lead into the sixth, but then the Dodgers finally wore down Strasburg. After retiring 12 straight batters, he allowed a homer to Corey Seager on a 2-1 fastball, tying the game. Then instead of ending the inning with a strikeout of Adrían González, Strasburg had to stay out there after Jose Lobaton was charged with a passed ball for letting strike three get away. A wild pitch moved González to second base, and that proved huge when Yasmani Grandal lined a ball to left-center and Ryan Raburn couldn't quite make a brilliant diving catch. González scored with what, remarkably, is the first unearned run off Strasburg since Sept. 20, 2015. And just like that, the Dodgers take a 2-1 lead into the seventh.

Update II: And the Dodgers hang on to win 2-1 despite a wild finish. Dave Roberts surprisingly pulled Kershaw after seven innings and 95 pitches, and the Nationals almost rallied. Trea Turner's leadoff triple off Pedro Báez in the top of the eighth put them in prime position. But Báez somehow snagged Bryce Harper's smoked comebacker and got Turner in a rundown. A frustrated Harper didn't try to advance past first base, and then Kenley Jansen got Zimmerman to ground out to end that rally. And then Jansen finished it off in the ninth. So the Nats drop the finale but win the series and head home with a 7-2 record on this long road trip.