Marcus Stroman's final line wasn't pretty on Saturday. He allowed five runs, four earned, on eight hits in four innings of work.
But none of the hits went for extra bases, and he certainly wasn't helped by his defense. The contact was a bit harder than Stroman probably would have liked - he allowed 11 hard-hit balls on the afternoon, but he's not taking Saturday's outing much to heart.
"It’s just baseball, man. It’s just one of those starts where you kind of have to wash it..." Stroman said. "It was eight singles, it was balls that were hit in holes. It was just one of those starts that could have went either way. My stuff still feels great, body still feels great, just wash this and kind of look forward to the next one.”
Manager Luis Rojas said the Nationals had a very good approach to beat Stroman.
“It was a good discipline offensively. There was pitches that were really close with Stroman’s movement, and guys were able to lay off. I think it kind of brought him back to the middle of the plate… They got a couple of singles, bloop hits, you gotta give credit. It was a good overall approach against Stroman’s stuff.”
It's easy to get annoyed when ground balls are finding holes and leading up to runs.
But Stroman, for the most part, wasn't fazed.
"I compete, man. I’ll continue to compete through anything, through all adversity, always. Like I said, I kind of processed the game quickly with my coaches afterward. It was eight singles, it wasn’t like I was getting barreled up out of the ballpark, in gaps, it could’ve went differently," Stroman said.
“Stro’s been around the league, and he knows how to control emotions. He’s out there on the field, he’s having fun…" added Rojas. "I don’t think the emotions got in the way of his performance today. I thought that the approach did… The stuff was there, we felt… but you gotta give credit to the Nats, just bringing that approach against him today."
No loss comes without some mental note-taking, which is what Stroman says he'll be doing to get ready for his next time on the bump.
"Look at little adjustments to make going into my next start. Maybe change a little bit, my pitching repertoire, maybe use a little bit more slider," he said, "but like I said, my body feels great, I’m looking forward to getting back on the mound next time, and looking forward to getting back to how I was.”