Nationals 1, Padres 3: Travis Wood threw a gem!

Nationals starter and SDSU alumnus Stephen Strasburg made his return from the disabled list in today’s game. He was sharp enough to notch eight strikeouts in six innings, but Yangervis Solarte spoiled his return appearance with a two-run dinger in the bottom of the first inning.

Strasburg’s counterpart in today’s match was Travis Wood, and boy was he ever on his game. Wood scattered two walks and three hits across seven scoreless innings, registering nine fly ball outs along the way. The Padres rotation seems to be filled mostly by groundballers like Luis Perdomo and Clayton Richard, but the large dimensions of Petco Park combined with damp evening air should benefit flyball pitchers like Wood.

Today’s win evens the series against the Nationals with one win apiece, making tomorrow’s series closer a rubber match. Tomorrow will be military Sunday, and it will be a day game with a first pitch scheduled for 1:40. Gio Gonzalez is slated to face Dinelson Lamet as the Padres try to play spoiler for the NL East leaders.