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CLEVELAND -- Sometimes an ace really needs to be an ace. For the Washington Nationals, Wednesday was one of those times, and Stephen Strasburg responded with a sterling performance. Less than 24 hours after a crushing ninth-inning loss, Strasburg pitched seven scoreless innings on Wednesday to lead the Nationals to a 4-1 victory over the Cleveland Indians.
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Trea Turner had three hits and three RBIs and Daniel Murphy homered to lead Washington's offense, but Cleveland had very little offense - thanks to Strasburg (14-1).
The big right-hander bounced back from his only loss of the season to hold the American League Central-leading Indians to three hits. He also had seven strikeouts and two walks in the victory.
"He was outstanding," Washington manager Dusty Baker said. "You hope he comes out and pitches like that, because that's what the big boys do."
Indians manager Terry Francona said Strasburg is a complete pitcher.
"He's really good," Francona said. "He can throw it by you. Throws his fastball to both sides of the plate, with a ton of finish. Slider, change, he's got everything. It's impressive."
Cleveland starter Carlos Carrasco (7-4) surrendered three runs on as many hits in six innings to take the loss.
Blake Treinen picked up his first major-league save. It was only Washington's third win in its last nine games.
The Nationals took a 2-0 lead in the second inning, which began with Carrasco walking the first two batters he faced, Jayson Werth and Anthony Rendon.
Ryan Zimmerman hit what looked like a double-play grounder to shortstop Francisco Lindor, who fielded it and threw to second baseman Jason Kipnis for the force out of Rendon. On his attempt to throw to first to complete the double play, Kipnis dropped the ball. Werth advanced to second and Zimmerman was safe at first.
Carrasco then struck out Danny Espinosa for the second out, but Ben Revere battled his way through a 12-pitch at-bat to draw a walk, loading the bases.
"He won. I threw him every pitch, and he (fouled off) everything," Carrasco said.
Turner followed with a two-run double to left, scoring Werth and Zimmerman to give Washington a 2-0 lead.
"What a game Turner had," Baker said. "Clutch hits like that. That's what we need, and with his speed, he creates havoc."
The Nationals scored again in the sixth inning when Murphy led off the inning with his 20th home run into the right-field seats.
The Indians could do nothing with Strasburg. Although they had base runners in five of Strasburg's seven innings, he kept them off the scoreboard by getting outs when he needed them.
"I was commanding my offspeed pitches well the whole game, and my fastball command got better as the game went on," said Strasburg, who is the first pitcher to start a season 14-1 since teammate Max Scherzer did it with Detroit in 2013.
Washington scored its final run in the seventh inning off reliever Dan Otero. Zimmerman led off with an infield single, and he went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Espinosa. Turner followed with a double down the left-field line, scoring Zimmerman to make it 4-0.
Cleveland finally scored in the ninth inning off the Washington bullpen. With one out, pinch-hitter Erik Gonzalez walked and went to second on a single by Rajai Davis off Felipe Rivero. Tyler Naquin singled up the middle, scoring Gonzalez and moving Davis to second.
But Treinen relieved Rivero and got Roberto Perez to ground into a game-ending double play.
"I was trying to get a double play there, and I was fortunate that I got a swing from (Perez) to get a ground ball," Treinen said.
"It's very important to have a ground ball guy coming out of your pen, because if he gets into trouble he can bail himself out with a double play," Baker said.
NOTES: Nationals INF Stephen Drew has been placed on the disabled list with vertigo-like symptoms. Drew has left the team to return to Washington for further tests. ... To replace Drew on the roster, the Nationals recalled INF Wilmer Difo from Double-A Harrisburg. ... A scoring change from Tuesday's game extended Nationals 2B Daniel Murphy's hitting streak to 12 games. A grounder hit by Murphy in the first inning was originally ruled an error on 3B Juan Uribe, but the official scorer changed it to a hit on Wednesday. Instead of going 0-for-5 in Tuesday's game, Murphy was 1-for-5, extending his hitting streak to 12 games. ... The Indians entered Wednesday's game with an eight-game winning streak in interleague play, their longest interleague win streak since a nine-game streak in 2005. ... According to Elias, prior to their 7-6 win Tuesday, the Indians had lost 95 consecutive games when trailing by three or more runs in the seventh inning or later.
