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WSH@BOS: Strasburg strikes out 13 over six innings

It's been said for years that the American League East is the toughest, most competitive division in baseball. When Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg faces the Blue Jays on Wednesday, he'll look to continue easing through it.

Strasburg has already faced the Orioles and Red Sox in Interleague Play this season. In those two outings, he is 2-0, has allowed eight hits, three walks and three earned runs in 11 innings while striking out 21 batters.

Starting for his first time in Fenway Park, he tallied 13 of those strikeouts and frustrated the Boston lineup to the point that third baseman Kevin Youkilis got ejected for arguing with the umpire after being sent down on strikes for the third time.

However, despite Strasburg's success -- he is 7-1 with a 2.41 ERA -- the 23-year-old still sees room for improvement.

"Obviously, you don't want to go out there and throw that many pitches," said Strasburg, who needed 119 pitches to get through six innings. "But sometimes they are going to make you work. I felt early on they were taking a lot of pitches. That's where I need to do a better job of pounding the strike zone and making them swing the bat."

Manager Davey Johnson echoed his starter's statements and said Tuesday that he believes the headlines make Strasburg try to outdo himself each time out, which at times can be a bad thing.

"Sometimes he tries to do too much and be too perfect," Johnson said. "That will tone down with experience."

Toronto's starter Kyle Drabek was not as heralded a prospect as Strasburg, but he's a former first-round pick by the Phillies who was a key piece in the trade for Roy Halladay. Like Strasburg, he also sees room for improvement. For the 24-year-old, it begins with his control.

Drabek is 4-6 with a 4.43 ERA in 2012 and he leads the Majors with 45 walks allowed. He's yielded eight in his past two games while striking out four. In his most recent start against the Braves, he walked four and didn't record a strikeout in five innings.

Nationals: Bernadina considered day to day
Roger Bernadina was forced to leave Monday's game with a strained right hamstring. He underwent an MRI on Tuesday that revealed no tear, and he is considered day to day.

"He'll be back soon," Johnson said. "He just tweaked it.

• Bryce Harper is batting .405 (15-for-37) through 10 games in June and raised his season average from .274 at the end of May to .307 after Tuesday's win. He has two doubles, three home runs, eight RBIs and two stolen bases in June.

Blue Jays: Morrow headed for DL
Brandon Morrow threw only nine pitches before he had to be removed from Monday's start with a left oblique strain. Unfortunately for the Blue Jays, the injury will require a stint on the disabled list, and the team announced he would be out at least the rest of June.

"Obviously it's a big loss," general manager Alex Anthopoulos said Tuesday afternoon. "He's been one of our top guys the entire year, but you never know. Sometimes guys step up, and it's happened with a lot of other teams, and hopefully for us, it'll be the same case."

Since they don't need a fifth starter until June 18 or 19, the Blue Jays have yet to make anything official, but Anthopoulos said the frontrunner for the spot was Triple-A Las Vegas right-hander Jesse Chavez.

"He's definitely the frontrunner, I guess I would say that," Anthopoulos said. "But we haven't made a commitment one way or the other. He's scheduled to pitch [Wednesday], but we don't have to make a decision for awhile. But there's no question that he has probably been the best starter down there

Worth noting
• The Blue Jays optioned Yan Gomes to Triple-A Las Vegas on Tuesday.

• The Nationals are a season-high 14 games over .500.

• Backup catcher Jhonatan Solano hit his first big league homer in Tuesday night's win.

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