Trailing 5-0, the San Diego Padres had the bases loaded with one out in the fifth inning and were poised to do a little damage against Stephen Strasburg.
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A groundout by Everth Cabrera brought in one run, but then Strasburg struck out Will Venable to end the threat.
Strasburg went on to pitch a career-high eight innings against his hometown Padres, snapping a seven-start winless streak, and Bryce Harper and Adam LaRoche homered to lead the Washington Nationals to a 6-2 victory against San Diego on Thursday night.
Strasburg's 54th big league start was his first professional appearance at Petco Park. The big right-hander went to high school in suburban Santee and pitched for Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn at San Diego State before the Nationals took him with the first overall pick in the 2009 amateur draft. He pitched twice at Petco Park for SDSU.
He allowed two runs, one earned, on three hits while striking out four and walking three. He got the final out of the eighth on his 117th pitch.
San Diego's Jedd Gyorko led off the fifth with a double that caromed off the base of the stands in left and Alexi Amarista walked. With one out, pinch-hitter Kyle Blanks hit a sharp grounder to third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, whose throw to second sailed over Steve Lombardozzi for an error that loaded the bases. Everth Cabrera's groundout brought in a run before Strasburg struck out Will Venable.
"He worked his way out of that jam," Padres manager Bud Black said. "We tried to get a little closer. He got Cabby on that groundball and then ended up striking out Will. That's a situation we talked about where he made a couple of pitches to minimize the damage and that got him through the middle part of the game.
"The difference was the fourth and fifth inning for them and us not getting the big hit when we had the bases loaded."
Strasburg (2-5) had gone seven innings 10 times, including three this year.
In Strasburg's only other appearance against the Padres, he lasted just four innings in a 6-1 loss at Washington on May 15, 2012.
Strasburg held the Padres scoreless through four innings and allowed only one run in the fifth despite loading the bases with one out.
"He kept the ball down for the most part," Yonder Alonso said. "We had the bases loaded there and we couldn't get it done. I still feel like when we did get the fastball we just didn't put good swings on it. When we did, we didn't find the holes and they made some good plays. They played good defense behind him."
Harper, back in the lineup three nights after running full-on into the scoreboard in right field at Dodger Stadium, hit a monster shot estimated at 431 feet to straightaway center field on the first pitch he saw from Tyson Ross with two outs in the seventh. Harper's homer nearly reached the base of the batter's eye. It was his 11th.
Harper's violent collision with the wall at Dodger Stadium left the 20-year-old slugger with 11 stitches in his chin and a sore body. Harper said he felt a little better but his whole left side was still sore. He played left field and batted third.
LaRoche hit a two-run homer into the sandy play area beyond the fence in right-center off Edinson Volquez (3-4) with one out in the fourth for a 2-0 lead. It was his fifth.
The Nationals added three runs off Volquez in the fifth, on a two-run single by Ryan Zimmerman and an RBI single by Steve Lombardozzi.
Volquez allowed five runs and five hits in five innings, struck out seven and walked four. Chris Denorfia hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
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