Strasburg leaves early with injury, Nats beat Braves in 11th

Nationals head athletic trainer Paul Lessard addressed the media Thursday to discuss the results of Strasburg’s MRI.

Strasburg told trainers and team officials at the time he felt “a pinch in the back of his elbow”, manager Dusty Baker said after Wednesday’s game.

Strasburg had been sidelined due to right elbow soreness. He exited with a 1-0 lead. He added this was an acute injury that could have happened on one pitch, not stress that built up on Strasburgs elbow. Strasburg was replaced by Sean Burnett, who gave up Adonis Garcia’s RBI single. He pitched 2 1/3 innings allowing one run on two hits, and striking out four.

Given Strasburg’s past – his well-documented Tommy John surgery in 2010 after he tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow in his 12th career start – the level of concern was significant Wednesday night when he departed in the third inning after wincing upon throwing two pitches.

Strasburg had been dealing with right elbow discomfort for the last three weeks, enough of it that the Nationals placed him on the disabled list. It’s unknown if surgery will be necessary to fix the current injury, but given it’s September 8 and Strasburg’s elbow continues to be a problem despite weeks of rest on the disabled list, there is the very real possibility that his season is over.

After the game ended well past midnight, the Nationals said Strasburg would get an MRI.

“Really just competed and left everything out there”, interim manager Brian Snitker said. After Bryce Harper was intentionally walked to load the bases, Wilson Ramos singled off Brandon Cunniff to win it.

Carrasco (11-7) allowed Colby Rasmus’ two-run homer in the fourth, one batter after the game was stopped briefly when one of the bugs appeared to get in his eye.

Dodgers 3, Diamondbacks 1: Yasiel Puig homered and drove in another run, and the Dodgers beat Arizona to win their fifth straight and complete a three-game sweep.

In the first season of a seven-year, $175 million contract extension with the Nationals, Strasburg is 15-4 with a 3.60 ERA and 1.10 WHIP.

The start of the game was delayed 57 minutes, though it ultimately only rained lightly during the early portion of the game.

The extra innings that followed seemed interminable since the Nationals will never release injury information during a game.