Nats' offense finally backs Strasburg in win over Giants

Stephen Strasburg gave up a homer to the first batter he faced last night, then struggled to find the strike zone throughout the opening inning.

And that's when the kid told himself it was time to change things up a little, time to start throwing the pitches he wants to throw.

Recovering quickly from a mediocre start, Strasburg shut down San Francisco the rest of the way, allowing three hits in six innings, and Adam Dunn homered twice, leading the Washington Nationals past the visiting Giants 8-1.

Before an announced crowd of 34,723, almost exactly double the 17,364 of a night earlier, Strasburg tried to put a 97 mph fastball past leadoff hitter Andres Torres on a 3-1 count. Torres drove the pitch off the facing of the second deck in right, giving him a homer in three consecutive games and four of the past six.

The next three batters also made solid contact, each lining the ball to an outfielder, and Strasburg needed 17 pitches to get out of the first, including nine balls.

"After that, I was like, 'You know what? Bottom line, if they're going to beat me, they're going to beat me [with] me calling my own game,"' said Strasburg, who turns 22 on July 20. "I was just putting it all on my shoulders, and I have to do that from now on."

Frequently clocked at 99 mph on the outfield scoreboard, and mixing in knee-buckling breaking balls, Strasburg (3-2, 2.32 ERA) finished with eight strikeouts and one walk. The No. 1 pick in the 2009 draft departed in style, striking out Pat Burrell swinging on a 98 mph fastball to end the sixth, then collecting handshakes and high-fives in the dugout.

"It's part of the learning process. In college, I didn't really have any say in what pitches were thrown," Strasburg said. "That's one thing I've lacked in my game, was the ability to learn as the game went on and really think out there. I was more throwing whatever they called, and now I'm starting to figure things out."

This was Strasburg's first win in nearly a month.

That's because after the "He did what?!" beginning to Strasburg's stay in Washington - 2-0, 2.19 ERA, 22 strikeouts in 12 1/3 innings in his first two starts, on June 8 and 13 - he went 0-2 over his next four appearances. One problem: Entering last night, the Nationals scored one run for Strasburg over the previous 25 innings he was in the game - and zero over his past 18.

They took care of that against Matt Cain (6-8), who has lost four consecutive decisions. He allowed eight runs - seven earned - and 11 hits in 6 2/3 innings, including Dunn's solo shot into the second deck in right in the fourth inning and two-run homer to center in the seventh.

Dunn was pleased to back Strasburg.

"He's kept us in every single ballgame, even the games that we've lost. Offensively we could have picked him up, and we didn't," Dunn said. "I've said this from Day 1 - I shouldn't say 'always,' but so far and in the future, he's going to give us a pretty good chance to win every day."

By the second inning, Strasburg was back to his hard-to-figure-out self, getting two strikeouts on nasty breaking balls and throwing 11 of 13 pitches for strikes. He struck out two more in the third, including Torres to end the inning.

"For a young kid, he's got great stuff. He is one of the better pitchers already. He throws 99 with good secondary pitches, holds runners," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "They've got a special kid there."

In other games:

* At New York, Melky Cabrera and Omar Infante hit back-to-back homers with two outs in the seventh inning off knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, and the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves beat the Mets, 4-2.

_ At Houston, Adam Wainwright pitched eight scoreless innings and Matt Holliday hit a three-run homer to help the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Astros, 8-0.

* At Milwaukee, Ryan Braun's two-out single scored Rickie Weeks from second base in the 10th inning and the Brewers snapped a five-game losing streak with a 5-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

* At Phoenix, Ricky Nolasco (9-6) won his fourth straight decision and Dan Uggla drove in two runs with a bloop single and a broken-bat infield hit to lead the Florida Marlins to a 3-2 victory over Dan Haren (7-7) and the Arizona Diamondbacks.

* At Denver, Ian Stewart hit two home runs, including a two-out, go-ahead grand slam in the seventh inning, and the Colorado Rockies rallied past the San Diego Padres, 10-8, for their fifth straight win.

Stewart's third career slam and fourth multihomer game gave him a career-best six RBIs and helped the second-place Rockies pull within two games of the NL West-leading Padres.