Stephen Strasburg will return to Washington Nationals rotation

But as the season begins to hit the crucial months, the Nationals are pleased to be getting pitcher Stephen Strasburg finally, who has been out since the fourth of July with a strained oblique, so their in the sun on the horizon for the Nationals. The Rockies weren’t quite so overjoyed to see the hard-throwing right-hander return to the mound in vintage form.

Aside from a blemish or two, Strasburg was mostly brilliant, dazzling and energizing at home in his seven innings pitched against the Colorado Rockies, and Washington won, 6-1, behind the 27-year-old’s three hits allowed and 12 strikeouts.

In this one, Colorado trailed 4-0 in the sixth and by three runs in the eighth when the Nationals brought it reliever Drew Storen, who hadn’t given up a run in 14 appearances since June 24.

Doug Fister, who was arguably the team’s best pitcher down the stretch last season and into October, has a 4.60 ERA this season.

Washington Nationals’ Danny Espinosa (8) is greeted by Ryan Zimmerman after he scored during the first inning of a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies, Friday, August 7, 2015, in Washington.

Strasburg never let them sniff a victory.

“A big moment. I knew that was the key to the game”, Gonzalez said. His average fastball velocity in those outings was 96.6 miles per hour, according to the team’s MASN broadcast. Curveball command was there, and he threw some really good changeups as well to the lefties. It’s really sharp.

Oh, yes, Strasburg also rapped out three singles.

GOAT: Colorado starter Eddie Butler. Pitching in front of family, friends and a group from Radford University, his alma mater, Butler was rapped for four runs and eight hits. Flande, who picked up the win against Seattle on Wednesday after tossing a scoreless inning of relief, is 0-1 with a 5.91 ERA in two career starts versus Washington.Scherzer is coming off a no-decision against Arizona on Tuesday in which he yielded three runs on four hits and three walks over six innings.

“A couple of guys get on base for various reasons and then I make one bad pitch, a fastball over the plate to a very good hitter”, Storen said.

The Nationals got to Butler early.

Harper led off the fourth with a single and scored on a double by Ryan Zimmerman for a 2-0 lead. After recovering from a trapezius strain, Strasburg made two healthy starts. Charlie Blackmon hit doubles in the first and third but was stranded both times.

He struck out two in the second and third innings before striking out the side in the fourth around a solo homer by Nolan Arenado. Arenado’s third hit in the eighth was a slow roller down the third-base line, and then Gonzalez followed with his grand slam to overcome a 4-1 deficit. The Nationals have scored 18 runs in their last three games and four or more runs in six straight games.