Strasburg kept trusting his stuff despite early runs for the Orioles

Just like his team, Stephen Strasburg didn't allow a rocky second inning to ruin his whole start.

The Orioles tallied three runs on four hits in the frame, highlighted by three singles in a row from the bottom of the order. Suddenly, the Nationals found themselves in an early deficit.

Strasburg spoke about psychologically getting over the early deficit and focusing on his pitching.

"Yeah, I was a little frustrated at the time," Strasburg said. "But talking with Mad Dog (pitching coach Mike Maddux) in between innings, he was like, 'Just keep trusting your stuff.' Sometimes I look at it as a hit is a hit and I just try to let it go and just keep going as long as I could."

Strasburg later gave up a two-run shot to Mark Trumbo for a 5-1 Orioles lead. But the Nationals rallied for two runs in the eighth and three runs in the ninth to complete a 7-6 victory, their 12th come-from-behind win of the season. Until tonight, the Nationals were 0-9 this season when trailing after eight innings.

"One pitch I wish I could have back was obviously the one to Trumbo," Strasburg said. "That was just poorly executed. But all in all, being able to watch what unfolded there in the ninth was pretty fun."

Jayson Werth started the ninth with a solo homer. The Nationals then loaded the bases on Bryce Harper's double, a one-out intentional walk to Daniel Murphy and a single by Anthony Rendon. Matt Wieters then ended the game with a two-run walk-off single to right.

"J-Dub's at-bat was big league," Strasburg said. "Harp getting on second there. And then Tone coming up with a big two-strike hit and then Wieters taking down his old team. That was pretty cool."

Strasburg didn't seem to be too bothered about the three-run second inning. Allowing five runs in the game might have ruffled his feathers more earlier in his career. Wieters said they didn't let the early deficit derail their game plan.

"We actually did a good job keeping it at three," Wieters said. "The first three guys get on, and they weren't really hard-hit balls. But that's baseball. We were able to keep it at three, and Stras did a great job keeping it at three. One pitch to Trumbo cost us later. But after those three, he really settled down and kept us in the game and gave our offense a chance to come back."

Strasburg agreed that Wieters' knowledge of the Orioles played a part in the Nationals' pregame strategy. But that's not true with only Wieters' former ballclub.

"I think he's really good with preparing for any team," Strasburg said. "I think that's one of the things I really appreciate about him is that obviously he wants to go out there and get some hits, but I think, if you ask him, his No. 1 job is making sure we're going out there and throwing the right pitches and sticking to the game plan. So I'm really impressed by the way he prepares on a day in, day out basis."

Despite giving up the five runs, Strasburg got to enjoy the rally from the clubhouse after he left the game. He said the club's confidence in any situation helps them when it faces a deficit.

"You just got to believe a little bit, I guess," Strasburg said. "You watch it from a different angle, you watch it on the TV. Hopefully, the commentators are saying good things, but more times than not, they're kind of negative. But you just got to keep believing."

The same went for manager Dusty Baker, who did not waver in his confidence that Strasburg could still make it a worthwhile start even with the early runs for the Orioles.

"That one inning, they blooped us to death," Baker said. "Then the other innings, they blasted us to death. He hung in there, kept the score pretty close for us. That was a big two-run homer that Trumbo got because we were closing in on the game at that point. But our guys kept battling and battling."