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Strasburg Strikes Out 14 in Majors Debut

Stephen Strasburg, the No. 1 draft selection last June, made his major league debut before a packed stadium in Washington. Credit...Luke Sharrett/The New York Times

WASHINGTON

Four flags fly above the scoreboard at Nationals Park. The first three signify the pennants won by the city’s first major league team, the Senators. The last one is blank. It may not stay that way for long.

We cannot put the Washington Nationals in the World Series yet. They are still, for now, the last-place team in the National League East. But every climb must start somewhere, and Tuesday seemed like that moment for this franchise.

Stephen Strasburg arrived in the majors with a flourish, looking like the ace this town has not seen since Walter Johnson. He set a Nationals single-game record for strikeouts, fanning 14 Pittsburgh Pirates over seven innings of a 5-2 victory, doing it all without a scouting report.

“They didn’t really talk to me about a game plan or how to attack certain hitters,” the 21-year-old Strasburg said. “They just told me to go out there and enjoy it.”

With a pitcher this overpowering, the hitters adjust to him, not the other way around. Strasburg threw harder in the seventh inning than he did in the first. His 94th and last pitch was 99 miles per hour, a swinging strike by Andy LaRoche. He fanned the last seven hitters he faced and eight of his final nine, walking none and allowing two runs and four hits.

The Pirates’ Ronny Cedeno, who struck out twice, said no pitcher throws harder. Yet because of Strasburg’s devastating changeup and breaking ball, looking for the fastball is a hitter’s best chance.

“If he keeps going like that, he’s got great stuff to be the best pitcher in the league,” Cedeno said. “It’s up to him. If he concentrates every start and makes the pitches like he did tonight, I think he’ll be O.K.”

Strasburg has delivered from the moment the Nationals drafted him first over all last June out of San Diego State. He signed for a record $15.1 million, and his agent, Scott Boras, said before the game that he was undervalued. Even Stan Kasten, the team president, had to agree.

The Nationals, losers of 205 games the last two seasons, welcomed a capacity crowd, more than 200 reporters and even Ken Burns, baseball’s foremost historian, who threw the ceremonial first pitch. Among the 40,315 fans was Tony Gwynn, the Hall of Famer who coached Strasburg in college. They hugged after Strasburg’s news conference.

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Stephen Strasburg has the potential to be a top-of-the-rotation pitcher for the Nationals.Credit...Greg Fiume/Getty Images

“A year ago at this time, everyone was focused on the money, is he going to sign, what kind of guy is he,” Gwynn said. “And a year later, I’m just sitting here proud as heck, because he’s done exactly what I thought he would do. He gets it. He’s very humble, a workaholic — all the things that you want in a player. The same kind of effort you got tonight, you’ll get five days from now and five days after that.”

On Tuesday afternoon, Strasburg looked calm amid the swirl. He sat in a leather chair in the middle of the clubhouse, staring blankly at a commercial on the Discovery Channel. The seven other sets in the clubhouse showed ESPN’s live broadcast from the field, lauding the coming of Strasburg.

It is rare, now more than ever, for a player or event to exceed such hype. But Strasburg has. He mastered major league hitters in spring training, then blitzed through a two-month apprenticeship in the minors. Almost nobody touched him there; opponents hit .158.

The Nationals scripted his arrival, waiting until June to promote him, largely to retain his rights a little longer, and at a cheaper price. The presence of the Pirates worked out nicely. Pittsburgh is the lowest-scoring team in the National League, headed for its 18th consecutive losing season. Yet Strasburg’s stuff seemed unhittable.

“The biggest challenge is understanding a lot of these hitters are very advanced,” Strasburg said. “But I’ve really learned not to give them too much credit. I’m starting to realize my stuff can play up here. It was a whole new experience, going out there and seeing how your stuff compares to theirs.”

On Tuesday, there was no comparison. Strasburg’s opponent, Jeff Karstens, worked into the sixth and had no strikeouts. His fastball was as hard as Strasburg’s changeup. The Pirates, who fumbled the first overall pick in 2002 by taking pitcher Bryan Bullington, are still a long way off.

The Nationals are competitive, and that is dangerous for the rest of an increasingly hardy N.L. East. They drafted first again Monday, taking the 17-year-old slugger Bryce Harper, and Tuesday they had homers from Ryan Zimmerman, Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham, a legitimate middle of the order.

Strasburg shapes up as the rotation anchor for years to come, poised beyond his age and powerful enough to find another level of dominance. After Dunn’s homer put the Nationals ahead the sixth, Strasburg responded with a final flurry of strikeouts.

“He got the lead, and you saw what I saw,” Gwynn said. “He took it up a notch.”

Strasburg changed more than one game in June. Nothing will ever be the same for Washington baseball. There is a real foundation for hope, and expectations from everybody but Strasburg. He has no reason to limit himself.

“I definitely think anything’s possible,” he said.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section B, Page 12 of the New York edition with the headline: A Beginning That Thrills to the End. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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