Apr 12, 2018; San Diego, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Chris Stratton (34) pitches during the first inning against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. Photo Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco Giants right-hander Chris Stratton will seek to duplicate two impressive efforts when he takes the mound for the opener of a three-game series against the Washington Nationals on Monday night.
The series is the first in San Francisco since Giants reliever Hunter Strickland plunked Nationals star Bryce Harper with a pitch last May, triggering a brawl at the mound that resulted in the ejection of both players.
The Giants got the worst of the altercation, with slugging backup Michael Morse suffering a career-ending concussion in a collision with teammate Jeff Samardzija near the mound.
Stratton wasn’t with the Giants at the time, but he contributed one of the best-pitched games of his young career when the clubs met again in Washington in August.
Making just his third career start, the 27-year-old shut out the Nationals on five hits over 6 2/3 innings in a 4-2 win. He struck out 10.
It’s the only time he has faced Washington.
Stratton (1-1, 2.22) has won just four times since, and came close to a fifth when he limited Arizona to one run in seven innings in his last start on Wednesday. He did not, however, get a decision in the 4-3 win, during which he recorded eight strikeouts.
The Giants will be opening a 10-game homestand following a 10-game trip on which they went just 4-6. Statton started two of the four wins.
Stratton wasn’t the only Giants starter who pitched well on the trip. The club is coming off a series win against the Los Angeles Angels in which both Samardzija and Johnny Cueto took shutouts late into wins.
Strickland saved Sunday’s 4-2 win for Cueto, and afterward was asked about his thoughts of seeing Harper again.
“Win a series,” is all he would say.
In the Nationals, the Giants will be seeing a team coming off a high-profile series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, one that included a meeting on Sunday Night Baseball.
Washington lost two of three in the rematch of 2017 division winners, scoring a total of just eight runs on 21 hits in the three games, which ended with the Nationals stranding two in the top of the ninth of a 4-3 loss on Sunday.
Harper went 2-for-10 in the series, which the Nationals played without injured regulars Daniel Murphy, Anthony Rendon and Adam Eaton. They remain out.
Left-hander Gio Gonzalez (2-1, 2.49) will oppose Stratton.
The veteran has made 12 career starts against the Giants, going 5-4 with a 3.06 ERA.
He restored order to the Nationals-Giants series in San Francisco last season the day after the brawl, pitching 6 1/3 innings in a 6-3 win. It improved his record at AT&T Park to 2-3 with a 3.95 ERA in seven starts.
Gonzalez threw 97 pitches in beating the New York Mets 5-2 in his last start, allowing two runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings on Tuesday.
That pitch total wasn’t even five times the number Giants first baseman Brandon Belt saw in one historic at-bat Sunday against the Angels’ Jaime Barria in the first inning.
Belt fouled off 16 pitches and flied out on the 21st pitch of the at-bat, the most pitches in a Major League Baseball at-bat since 1988.
Afterward, Belt apologized.
“When I’m in the field, I hate it when a batter keeps fouling pitches off,” he insisted. “I’m like, ‘Dude, just put it in play. It’s not that hard. Let’s go.’ So, I basically had to apologize to everybody after that.”
