Washington Nationals right-hander Stephen Strasburg singled and hit a 420-foot, three-run homer in the third inning of Thursday’s game against the Braves in Atlanta.
Strasburg led off the third inning with a single to center and scored the Nationals’ first run, tying the game.
The Nationals batted around, and when Strasburg came up the second time with two outs and two on, he drove a 92 mph fastball from Touki Toussaint deep to left for his fourth career homer. The blast was the longest by a pitcher this season and the longest by a Nationals pitcher since the Statcast era began in 2015.
Strasburg became the first pitcher to hit a home run and an additional base hit in the same inning since Edwin Jackson did it with the Diamondbacks against the Pirates on April 11, 2010.
In his next at-bat in the top of the fifth, Strasburg picked up his third hit of the night, singling to left to drive in two more runs. That gave him five RBIs on the night, when he had one RBI this season going into the game, and one all of last year.
Strasburg was due to lead off in the top of the seventh, but he couldn’t get through the bottom of the sixth as his pitch count surpassed 100. He struck out seven Braves over 5 1/3 innings while allowing three runs on eight hits.