By AP
VIERA, FL – Top draft pick Stephen Strasburg has made his spring training debut for the Washington Nationals, pitching two scoreless innings in a 9-4 loss to the Detroit Tigers.
Starting for Washington, Strasburg threw 15 of his 27 pitches for strikes and allowed two hits, successive two-out singles by Don Kelly and Alex Avila in the second. But the right-hander finished off Brent Dlugach with a bending, 81 mile-per-hour breaking ball for an inning-ending strikeout.
Strasburg's four-seam fastball was consistently measured in the 97-98 mile-per-hour range and he struck out two Tuesday. But he had some problems with location and threw first-pitch strikes to only two of the eight batters he faced.