CLEVELAND — Coming off his sensational debut, Stephen Strasburg will make his first road start in the majors against the Cleveland Indians.
The Washington Nationals have confirmed that the 21-year-old will start Sunday at Progressive Field. Strasburg struck out 14 on Tuesday night in a 5-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates before a standing-room-only crowd of 40,315 in the nation's capital.
His appearance is giving an attendance bump to the Indians, who are in last place in the AL Central and struggling to sell tickets.
The team has sold 4,000 tickets since last week, when it appeared Strasburg would face Cleveland in his second game. The Indians have sold 1,400 tickets since Monday morning and 1,000 since midnight, shortly after Strasburg ended his dazzling opener.
Strasburg's stop in Cleveland is expected to draw the second-largest crowd this season. The Indians, who once had 455 consecutive home sellouts, were only sold out on opening day this season. Their second-biggest crowd was only 25,531 in the 43,000-seat ballpark.
"It's creating a fan buzz around baseball," Indians spokesman Bob DiBiasio said. "It's something we're excited about, to be able to play host to the young man's first road start."
Strasburg's 14 strikeouts are the most in major league debut since J.R. Richard fanned 15 for Houston in 1971.
No comments:
Post a Comment