The Washington Nationals have placed Stephen Strasburg on the disabled list with right elbow soreness.

Strasburg was willing to pitch through the pain, but the Nationals decided to be cautious.

"I told him we hadn't won anything yet and that we had to look at the big picture," Dusty Baker said. "Hopefully he'll be good in September and hopefully in October."

Strasburg, who is 15-3 with a 3.59 ERA, is expected to spend the minimum amount of time on the DL.

"A hundred percent I think I was good enough to go, but the recovery in between was becoming more of a challenge," he said.

"I felt like I was losing range of motion and wasn't able to get that back in between starts, so I'm trying to make it better than it ever was, I guess. Hopefully that'll translate to some good performance down the road."