CLEVELAND — For one of the few times this season, Pro­gressive Field will be the place to be Sunday.

The Washington Nationals have confirmed that phenom pitcher Stephen Strasburg, whose spectacular major league debut Tuesday held the attention of the sports world, will start against the Indians in the finale of a three-game series.

He will bring with him the hype that has surrounded the 21-year-old right-hander since the start of spring training.

According to Cleveland’s media relations department, the team has sold more than 4,300 tickets in the last week — 3,000 alone on Wednesday — in anticipation of Strasburg’s arrival.

“How can you get away from it?” Indians manager Manny Acta said of the Strasburg hype. “Obviously the kid is special. He is gifted and we will see him on Sunday. We will have our hands full and we have to deal with it.” Strasburg’s debut against the Pirates — 7 innings, two runs, 14 strikeouts and no walks — was a historic one. He became the first pitcher in major league history to strike out 14 without a walk in his debut.

According to Elias Sports Bureau, Strasburg is one of just four rookies since 1969 — Roger Clemens (15 strikeouts in 1984), Dwight Gooden (16 strikeouts twice in 1984) and Kerry Wood (20 strikeouts in 1998) — to strike out at least 14 batters in a game without a walk.

Wood’s stellar outing came in his fifth career start.

“My first start was nowhere near what he did,” Wood said. “My fifth start, yeah, that was like what he did. I watched the highlights of what he did and it brought back memories. The thing is there’s a lot of attention, and I say, ‘Let him go pitch.’ “He’s got a little more than normal stuff and throws free and easy. I was hoping he’d do well, because it is so good for the game, for that team, for that city.”

Some Indians players are looking forward to taking their hacks at Strasburg.

“Whether you have any success or not, you always look forward to facing guys like that. It will be a fun challenge,” said outfielder Austin Kearns, who saw highlights of Strasburg’s debut. “It was impressive. He’s as advertised it seems like.”

“Baseball is the same game,” said outfielder Shin-Soo Choo. “I’m not thinking it’s anything special. I’ve seen a lot of good pitchers, (Justin) Verlander, (Roy) Halladay.”

But Choo had to admit that he might get to see another one Sunday.

“He’s impressive,” Choo said of Strasburg. “Fourteen strikeouts in seven innings, two strikeouts in every inning, that’s a pretty good major league debut, really good.”

Cleveland shortstop Jason Donald is familiar with Strasburg, having played with him on the U.S. National Team last summer.

“We knew he was going to be special back then,” Donald said. “You could just see it in practice.”

Not everyone is impressed by Strasburg’s feats thus far.

“Wake me up when he wins 100 games,” said Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller. “The media makes too much of this. It is about making money and then making suckers out of the fans.”

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

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