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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Baseball notebook: Nationals’ Strasburg recaptures dominance with 13-0 start

Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg beat the Mets on Friday to become the first National League pitcher to start a season 13-0 in more than 100 years. (Kathy Kmonicek / Associated Press)
Associated Press

Watching Stephen Strasburg on the mound in 90-degree heat, Washington Nationals manager Dusty Baker recalled how he heard the right-hander would “wilt” in these situations.

Nothing about Strasburg’s outing against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night, or any other opponent this season, has resembled wilting. Strasburg is the first National League starting pitcher to begin a season 13-0 in more than 100 years, a recapturing of the dominance he showed early in his career before Tommy John surgery.

Strasburg has won 16 consecutive decisions dating back to September and during that stretch has struck out 182 batters and walked 37. This season his 2.51 ERA is sixth in the majors, and his command of his pitches is reflected in the numbers.

“In my opinion this has been the best year I’ve seen him pitch,” catcher Wilson Ramos said through an interpreter. “He’s been very effective attacking the zone, keeping the ball down. He’s been hitting his spots very well with all his pitches. Usually a starter that attacks the zone like that and doesn’t miss his spots very much will usually has success like he’s been having.”

Mixing his overpowering fastball with a cutter, curveball and change-up, Strasburg has thrown an impressive 66.4 percent of his pitches for strikes this season, and yet batters are hitting .195 against him with only 11 home runs in 17 starts.

Perhaps the most impressive number is the zero in the loss column.

“He hasn’t lost,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “That’s pretty hard to do up here. It’s in late July and he hasn’t lost a game. Whatever he’s doing, he’s probably going to continue it.”

Strasburg’s 13 victories to open a season are tied with teammate Max Scherzer and Ron Guidry as the sixth-longest streak in major league history and mark the longest in the N.L. for a starter since Rube Marquard of the New York Giants went 18-0 in 1912.

Asked if this felt like a 13-0 season, the 27-year-old didn’t know how to answer.

“The results, I can’t control,” said Strasburg, who signed a $175 million, seven-year contract extension in May. “I’m trying to go out there and execute pitches and roll with the highs and lows. It’s always going to be that way. You ask any veteran pitcher in the league, there are years where they feel like they really dominated all year and just didn’t have the numbers to show for it and there are other years where they feel like they realty didn’t pitch to the level they expected and they had all the numbers to show for it.”

There are tangible explanations for Strasburg’s numbers, and Baker said it starts off the field. The veteran baseball man said the Nationals’ staff urged Strasburg to increase his work between starts.

After an injury-filled 2015 that included a strained left trapezius muscle, a strained oblique and other tweaks that had little to do with pitching, Strasburg changed his workout approach. He may not work out more, but he does it differently.

“As I’ve gotten older it’s not trying to go out there and lift the house in the weight room,” Strasburg said. “I think I’ve just been trying to get back to square one, ready for the next start. Throwing that many pitches, doing that over and over again, it kind of takes a beating on your body, so we’re just trying to work with the training staff and identify what areas I need to work on to get feeling good for the next one.”

Strasburg missed two weeks this season with an upper-back strain, but that didn’t slow him down. Since returning from the disabled list July 3, he has allowed just two earned runs on five hits and struck out 20 in 21 2/3 innings.

Some of that dominance is mental, according to Ramos, who said Strasburg had the tendency in previous years to get down when things didn’t go his way or the defense let him down. Ramos has talked to Strasburg extensively about letting his pitches work and the defense take care of things.

“We have a great team playing behind him and he’s finally taken to that and he’s pitched extremely well and the team’s helped him out a lot,” Ramos said. “So far he’s having a great year and his attitude is, I think, the biggest difference with the way he’s going out there and just being aggressive – a lot more aggressive than he has been in the last few years and I think that’s made a big difference.”

Minnesota Twins fire general manager Terry Ryan

The Twins fired general manager Terry Ryan after skidding to the worst record in the American League.

The Twins entered the day 33-58, 21 games out of first place in the A.L. Central Division. Only Atlanta has a worse record in the majors.

Assistant GM Rob Antony will take over on an interim basis.

Owner and CEO Jim Pohlad made the announcement hours before the Twins opened a series in Detroit. The timing was curious, given the fact that the team had just come out of the All-Star break with the front office intact and the trade deadline is just two weeks away.

“Terry has been a gifted leader of the baseball department for over eighteen seasons,” Pohlad said. “It is impossible to overstate his contribution to our game, our team and the Upper Midwest baseball community. The decision to part ways with Terry was difficult, painful and not obvious.”

Ryan spent two stints as general manager of the Twins, helping the franchise emerge from a decade worth of futility to become one of the models for small-market success in the early 2000s. He helped build one of baseball’s strongest farm systems and made several shrewd trades that turned the Twins into a team that won four AL Central championships in five seasons.

Ryan stepped down in 2007 but returned in 2011 after hand-picked successor Bill Smith could not continue the team’s success.

The Twins are in the middle of their fifth losing season in the last six years, and a 2015 season that saw them return to contention in the division proved not to be enough when the team sank to the bottom of the American League this summer.

Despite the Twins’ massive struggles, the midseason firing is a highly uncharacteristic by the Pohlad family, long known in baseball circles for loyalty and continuity. Jim Pohlad has made no secret of his admiration for Ryan, saying as late as last year that the GM could hold his post for as long as he wanted.

“While disappointed we were unable to bring Minnesota a third World Championship, I leave the GM post with immense pride in being part of the Twins organization for the better part of three decades,” Ryan said. “I’m grateful for the leadership opportunities provided by the Pohlad family; the collaboration and talents of my colleagues in the front office; the hard work and dedication of our manager, coaches and clubhouse personnel; the commitment and professionalism of our players; the passion and attention to detail of our minor league staff and scouts; and most importantly, the incredible support of our fans. It’s been an honor to be part of the Twins organization and I wish everyone nothing but the best going forward.”

Antony is in his 29th season in the Twins organization and his ninth as an assistant GM.

Former Cardinals exec sentenced to jail for hacking Astros

The former scouting director of the St. Louis Cardinals has been sentenced to nearly four years in jail for hacking the Houston Astros’ player personnel database.

Christopher Correa’s sentencing in Houston federal court came after he pleaded guilty in January to five counts of unauthorized access of a protected computer. He was sentenced to 46 months behind bars and ordered to pay $279,038 in restitution.

Correa was the Cardinals’ director of baseball development until being fired last summer.

The data breach was first reported in June 2014 when Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow told reporters the team had been the victim of hackers who accessed servers and published online months of internal trade talks. Luhnow had previously worked for the Cardinals.

Indians’ Gomes could miss 2 months with separated shoulder

A season of struggle for Yan Gomes has worsened.

Cleveland’s starting catcher could miss two months after separating his right shoulder, an injury that may force the A.L. Central-leading Indians to make a trade before the Aug. 1 deadline for deals without waivers.

Gomes got hurt Sunday when he took a hard fall while running to first base in the fifth inning against Minnesota. After he tried to avoid being tagged by first baseman Kennys Vargas, Gomes stumbled and crashed hard on his shoulder. The Indians said the 28-year-old Gomes does not need surgery at this time, but that he will be sidelined for at least one month. The team said Gomes did not hurt his right knee, which he injured last season and missed 37 games.

It’s been a rough year for Gomes, who is hitting just .165 with eight homers and 32 RBIs in 71 games. While he has been solid while handling Cleveland’s pitching staff, the club was counting on much more offensive production from Gomes, who hit 21 homers in 2014.

To take Gomes’ roster spot, the Indians activated catcher Roberto Perez from the 60-day disabled list. Perez had been out since April 30, when he broke his right thumb while tagging a runner in Philadelphia. He had surgery on May 6.

Perez will likely slide back into the starting lineup with Chris Gimenez backing him up.

The Indians take the league’s best record into their three-game series starting Monday night at Kansas City. Cleveland leads the defending World Series champion Royals by 4 1-2 games and is up three games on second-place Detroit.

Also, the Indians recalled left-hander Kyle Crockett from Triple-A Columbus and optioned Cody Anderson to the Clippers.

This is Crockett’s second stint this season with Cleveland. He made 11 relief appearances from April 27-May 2.

Reds catcher Devin Mesoraco has season-ending hip surgery

Reds catcher Devin Mesoraco had surgery on his right hip, the latest major setback for the former All-Star.

Mesoraco already was on the disabled list following surgery May 10 for a significant tear in his left shoulder. His latest surgery will prevent him from catching again until January.

The 28-year-old catcher had surgery on his other hip last season, limiting him to 23 games. Reds manager Bryan Price said there’s no indication the hip problems would become a chronic issue.

The former first-round draft pick had one of the best seasons by a Reds catcher in 2014, hitting 25 homers and driving in 80 runs. A few months later, he agreed to a four-year, $28 million through the 2018 season.

O’s star Davis hospitalized Sunday with illness, out Monday

Chris Davis was not in the lineup for the Orioles for a game against the Yankees after spending the night in a hospital with an illness.

The slugger got IV fluid Sunday. Manager Buck Showalter said Monday his first baseman was “pretty under the weather through this morning.”

Showalter says Davis might have the same bug that affected Zach Britton and Matt Wieters at the All-Star Game, which was “about a 24-hour thing.” Showalter was uncertain if Davis would be available to pinch hit Monday.

Davis was 0 for 4 in a 5-2 loss to Tampa Bay on Sunday and is batting .236 with 22 homers and 58 RBIs this season. Ryan Flaherty was at first base for Baltimore.

Conforto returns to Mets, ready to try center field

Michael Conforto is hoping a short stay in Las Vegas turns into a strong finish with the New York Mets.

Conforto rejoined the Mets before the start of a three-game series against the N.L. Central-leading Chicago Cubs. The 10th overall pick in the 2014 draft was recalled when Brandon Nimmo, another young outfielder, was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas after Sunday’s 5-0 win at Philadelphia.

Mets right-hander Matt Harvey had season-ending thoracic outlet surgery in St. Louis. Harvey finishes the year with a 4-10 record and a 4.86 ERA after going 13-8 with a 2.71 ERA in 2015.

The 23-year-old Conforto made his major league debut last year and hit .270 with nine homers and 26 RBIs in 56 games, helping the Mets win the N.L. East and make it all the way to the World Series. He then homered twice in Game 4 against Kansas City.

Conforto was expected to be a key contributor this year and got off to a nice start. But he was sent down on June 25 after a prolonged slump.

“It was a very productive couple of weeks, 16 games or so,” Conforto said. “I think there was a period of obviously being upset and you’ve got to go through that. As soon as I turned it into an opportunity to work on some things, to get some things done and take a look at what happened over the course of the prior couple months, I think I really look a couple big steps forward.”

Conforto hit .344 with three homers in 16 games with Las Vegas, earning a quick return to the majors.

“They said he was swinging great and the powers that be said it was time,” Mets manager Terry Collins said.

Collins mentioned Conforto, Juan Lagares and Curtis Granderson as possible options in center after Yoenis Cespedes told reporters over the weekend he would prefer to stay in left for the rest of the year. Cespedes, who had a team-high 21 homers and 52 RBIs coming into the day, has been hampered recently by a strained right quadriceps.

Cespedes was in left for the series opener against the Cubs. Collins said he would be in center on Tuesday, but sounded as if he planned to keep him in left for most of the remaining part of the season.

“We’ve got to keep him in the lineup,” Collins said. “I think we’re taxing his body pretty heavily by putting him into center field. We need him to hit and we need him to hit a lot. I just think if he’s in left field, where he’s comfortable and where’s there’s not as much emphasis on the defensive side, that he’ll go back and do what we hope he can do and that’s being a big production guy.”

Conforto said he thinks his last game in center was in college at Oregon State. But he said he was ready to play wherever Collins puts him.

“We had a conversation today about that,” Conforto said. “I know I haven’t played there in pro ball. But if the team needs me there, I’m going to do whatever I can to prepare myself to play as well as I can there.”