Unbeaten Strasburg pitches Nationals past banged-up Mets 3-1

The Mets say he was pulled after three innings with a strained right quadriceps.

Robinson’s point was that Syndergaard throws everything so hard (at least until he exited the game in the fifth inning with what the Mets called “arm fatigue”) that you can’t sit on anything other than his fastball.

Nats GM, ump get in shouting match • Long after prized prospect Lucas Giolito stumbled in his second major league start, the frustrated Washington Nationals left Citi Field still angry at the umpires. Strasburg tossed 7 sparking innings, allowing just 2 hits and 3 walks, yielding just 1 run over 7 innings to earn the decision and lower his season ERA to 2.62.

Right-hander Jerad Eickhoff (6-9, 3.30 ERA) will seek a third straight win when he starts Saturday for the Phillies in the third of a four-game set against the Rockies.

Harvey’s agent, Scott Boras, told several media outlets Friday that Harvey hadn’t felt right since spring training but wanted to pitch through the problem until it became a little more pronounced recently.

Shawn Kelley gave up two hits to start the eighth, but Oliver Perez and Blake Treinen wriggled out of the jam before Jonathan Papelbon (18th save) threw a ideal ninth inning.

The injuries to Cespedes and Syndergaard came hours after the Mets announced Opening Day starter Matt Harvey will undergo season-ending surgery to fix thoracic outlet syndrome.

PIRATES 8, CUBS 4: Andrew McCutchen had three hits, including an RBI single during a decisive four-run seventh inning, as the Pittsburgh Pirates rallied for a rare victory over the Chicago Cubs and Jake Arrieta, 8-4 on Friday night. The slugger got hurt chasing Daniel Murphy’s RBI double to deep center field in the third and was replaced by Juan Lagares in the fourth.

This isn’t the first time Syndergaard has been removed from a game for injury-related concerns, with bone spur- and elbow-related trouble limiting him in his second season.

“His arm went dead”. He left after 4 2/3 innings Friday, when his final two pitches – a pair of low 90 miles per hour fastballs to Jayson Werth – spooked Werth as well as Mets manager Terry Collins. “But he said there’s no pain”.

It was doubtful before that Collins would use his own pitcher, but now with this development, Syndergaard will likely plant himself firmly on the bench for the Midsummer Classic, unless of course Collins elects to select a different pitcher and simply let Noah rest.

Collins did not expect Cespedes to be available Saturday although he might be able to hit on Sunday in the series finale. I think you can notice when you throw 99 and 91. All-Star Max Scherzer (9-6, 3.21) will go up against spot-starter Logan Verrett (3-5, 4.01), who has taken Harvey’s place in the Mets rotation for now. Strasburg took his time, heading to the back of the mound between pitches before staring in, settling as the crowd came back to life. “In my head, I’m like ‘I want to make up the two starts I missed.’ So hopefully (he’ll) be able to start the first game back and get the second half going right”. He went seven innings, gave up one run on two hits, struck out nine, and walked three on 108 pitches (67 strikes) to improve his record to 12-0 on the season. Things would get much worse. I think he deserves it. With his 367th save, he tied Jeff Reardon for ninth on the career list. Murphy is batting.409 with five homers and 15 RBIs this season against the Mets, with whom he played the first seven seasons of his career before signing with Washington in December.