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Bad news for anyone interested in the already fabled Stephen Strasburg-Clayton Kershaw match-up tonight (And also bad news for Strasburg, obviously):
Stephen Strasburg has been scratched from tonight's start with an upper back strain. Yusmeiro Petit will start instead. Woah.
— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) June 21, 2016
You don’t need me to tell you that Strasburg has been crushing National League hitters all season long, amassing the 10-0 record that has been quoted all week in anticipation of his expected duel with the 10-1 Kershaw tonight. Through 93 IP, he’s working a 2.90 ERA, 11.4 SO/9 and 4.92 SO/W. It’s messed up.
Strasburg has plenty of injuries in his history, missing the 2011 season due to Tommy John surgery, and being eventually shut down in 2012 to adhere to an innings limit. 2015 saw him miss four weeks from neck tightness and about a month from July to August with an oblique strain.
His replacement this evening will be 31-year-old Yusmeiro Petit, who has made 17 appearances and thrown 32 innings for the Nationals this season, accumulating a 2.81 ERA.
Vegas moved the Nats from +170 to +280 after Strasburg was scratched. There will be few, if any, MLB lines so lopsided all year. #MsIowa
— Adam Kilgore (@AdamKilgoreWP) June 21, 2016