Stephen Strasburg missed his first two starts this season with a nerve issue in his right hand, but the three-time All-Star felt confident heading into Friday night¡¯s outing against the Orioles.

Sixteen pitches later, his night was over. Even worse, Strasburg¡¯s immediate future is now murky as the Nationals try to figure out why he¡¯s experiencing the nerve issues that have hampered him since the season began.

¡°We watched him, and honestly, I didn't like what I saw,¡± said manager Dave Martinez.

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With two outs in the first inning, Martinez headed to the mound with athletic trainer Paul Lessard, the decision to remove Strasburg already a foregone conclusion.

¡°I just told him then and there, ¡®I don't want you to continue right now,'¡± Martinez said. ¡°I talked to him after he came out, I appreciated him trying to gut it out. But I don't want this to become a bigger issue and something else goes wrong.¡±

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Strasburg will be reevaluated on Saturday, though Martinez was uncertain as to precisely what that evaluation would involve.

¡°I think I honestly believe at this point that we need to really look at this very closely and see what happens in the next few days,¡± the manager said. ¡°I'm not going to run him out there like that. He was upset, he wanted to be out there, but I¡¯m not going to see him go through that. He's one of our best. To see him try to gut it out like that, I appreciate it. We all did. But we¡¯ve got to take care of him.¡±

Strasburg retired Hanser Alberto on a popup to open the game, then Anthony Santander took him deep an at-bat later, launching a fastball over the right-field wall for a quick 1-0 Orioles lead.

Jos¨¦ Iglesias then saw six pitches from Strasburg, ending in a groundout to second base. But the right-hander shook his hand after nearly every pitch, wincing several times. That was more than enough for Martinez.

¡°I told him, ¡®You did everything you can; this is just a weird injury for you. Let's just try to get it right,¡¯¡± Martinez said. ¡°I'm going to do everything I can to take care of him. I don't want to see him out there shaking his hand in pain. I think the best thing right now is to kind of shut him down and see if we can get this straightened out.¡±

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Strasburg declined to speak with reporters on Friday night, telling a Nationals media relations representative that he would talk once he had a better idea of what was going on. Martinez said the issue was tingling in Strasburg¡¯s thumb, which the medical staff believes is related to an issue in his wrist.

¡°I hope he understands, and I hope he knows where I'm coming from and where our medical staff is coming from,¡± Martinez said of Strasburg, who was signed to a seven-year, $245 million deal in the offseason. ¡°He¡¯s going to be here for a lot of years; he's going to pitch a lot of innings. In order to do that, he's got to be healthy.¡±