WASHINGTON _ Gerrit Cole walked off the mound at Nationals Park earlier than he would have liked. His season was over, and this start would prove difficult to categorize, like much of his 2017 campaign.
On the one hand, Cole struck out seven and gave up just one run through his first five innings on Friday. He got former MVP Bryce Harper to hit into consecutive double plays, then struck him out. On the other hand, he ceded eight hits and was ultimately credited with three runs in 51/3 innings. He threw 103 pitches in that span, had only one 1-2-3 inning and took the loss in the Nationals' 6-1 victory over the Pirates at Nationals Park. The Pirates (73-87) have lost two in a row and will wrap up their season this weekend with two more games in Washington.
Like this particular start, Cole's season was up and down. On the one hand, he started a career-high 33 games, exceeded 200 innings for the second time, struck out 196 batters and remained healthy throughout 2017. Yet Cole (12-12) concluded the campaign with a middling 4.26 ERA _ his first time over 4.00 for a season _ and gave up 31 home runs, nearly tying the Pirates' franchise record (32) and outpacing his previous high by 20. He also had career highs in earned runs, walks and hits. Cole's ability to regain the dominance of his Cy Young-worthy 2015 campaign will determine whether they can contend in 2018.
The Nationals (97-63) did much of their damage in Cole's final inning, when Cole gave up three hits, including an RBI single from Daniel Murphy, and was pulled for A.J. Schugel, who allowed two more to score on a home run from Ryan Zimmerman. Zimmerman homered again in the eighth, when Dan Runzler gave up back-to-back shots to him and Jayson Werth.
Things weren't much easier for the Pirates on the offensive end of things. Stephen Strasburg entered Thursday's game with a nasty 0.98 ERA since the All-Star break. For a while, it seemed like Strasburg could assemble a historic game, but he settled for one that was merely excellent.
Strasburg was perfect through 42/3 innings, when Gregory Polanco's hard grounder caromed off Ryan Zimmerman's glove and bounced toward center field.
In 72/3 innings, Strasburg _ who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 MLB draft, two years before Cole _ allowed two hits, two walks and one hit batsman. He struck out eight, all but one of which came on swings and misses; only Starling Marte and Adam Frazier did not succumb to a strikeout from the right-hander.
With the National League East locked up, Strasburg threw just 83 pitches in his previous outing against the New York Mets. On Friday, he threw 103 pitches, getting the Pirates to chase up high, in the dirt and everywhere in between.
The Pirates could not capitalize on the few cracks in Strasburg's armor. He threw three pitches in the sixth, the same inning he hit Rodriguez in the torso; he got Cole to pop out and then coaxed a double-play grounder from Frazier to end the inning.
The Pirates finally scored in the top of the ninth, when Andrew McCutchen doubled off the wall in right-center field, his 29th of the season, to score Marte, but were unable to break things open off left-hander Matt Grace.
