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Nats turn to Strasburg aiming for series win over Giants

Aug 24, 2014 - 12:10 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - Stephen Strasburg tries to match a season high by winning his third straight start when the Washington Nationals conclude their three-game series against the San Francisco Giants Sunday afternoon.

With 198 strikeouts this year, Strasburg is hot on the heels of setting the Nationals' single-season record. That mark is 207 strikeouts by Gio Gonzalez in 2012.

Strasburg has given up a total of one earned run over his last two starts, covering 15 innings in wins against Arizona and the New York Mets. He is 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA in four starts versus the Giants. That includes a 9-2 win on June 9 at AT&T Park where he faced Ryan Vogelsong, this afternoon's pitcher for San Francisco.

Vogelsong was pounded for nine hits and six runs in six-plus innings in that contest. The right-hander suffered a loss in his most recent start, which was delayed at Wrigley Field after the field was deemed unplayable due to a rain delay on Aug. 19. The game resumed two days later following a successful protest by the Giants. Vogelsong gave up three hits and two runs in four innings of the 2-1 defeat, but was unable to continue pitching due to the delay.

In eight career games (four starts) against the Nationals, Vogelsong has posted a 1-2 mark with a 6.39 ERA.

Yesterday, Jayson Werth drove in two runs to back eight dominant innings by Jordan Zimmermann in Washington's 6-2 win. Zimmermann (9-5) struck out eight in eight innings of two-run ball for Washington, which lost on Friday to see a 10-game winning streak halted.

Asdrubal Cabrera homered and scored twice, while Denard Span and Anthony Rendon also finished with a pair of runs apiece for Washington, which did all of its damage in the first three innings.

Tim Lincecum (10-9) was pulled after 2 2/3 innings for the second shortest outing of his career. He was charged with all six runs -- four earned -- on six hits and four walks as the Giants had their three-game winning streak broken.

The two-time Cy Young winner failed to pick up his 100th career win at the hands of the team that has hit him the hardest over the years. Lincecum fell to 0-6 in his last seven starts against the Nationals.

The Giants have gone 22-11 versus the NL East this season, but have dropped 12 of their last 18 games against Washington.