Washington Nationals Rapid Reaction: Ryan Zimmerman’s Home Run The Difference In 1-0 Win

Jul 30, 2015; Miami, FL, USA; Washington Nationals starting pitcher Max Scherzer (31) delivers a pitch against the Miami Marlins during the first inning at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Scherzer Shuts Out Marlins

Once again, Max Scherzer showed yesterday why he is the ace of this Nationals team. After having his worst start of the season against the Pirates last Friday, Scherzer stayed true to form. He went seven innings, gave up no runs on three hits, struck out six, and walked three on 109 pitches (75 strikes).

One thing that Scherzer was able to do was taking advantage of an aggressive Marlins’ lineup that is without one of its best players in Giancarlo Stanton. The right-hander threw 20 first pitch strikes to the 25 batters he faced.

While Scherzer did walk three batters, which was a season-high, he did something that he hasn’t done in a while. He was able to induce 11 groundball outs, which is his highest total of the season and only the third time all year that he has been able to get an opponent to ground out ten or more times. He was able to get Jeff Mathis and Christian Yelich to ground into inning ending double plays in the fifth and seventh innings respectively.

In a ballpark like Marlins Park where it is tough to hit home runs, the Marlins only had four flyball outs against Scherzer. While Scherzer will end up with a 4.13 ERA in the month of July, he definitely found a way to end his month on a good note. Plus, despite giving up five earned runs in two of those games, he gave up a combined total of six runs in the other four starts.

Next: Nats Show Off Storen-Papelbon Duo