Washington Nationals: Scherzer Gets Redemption Against Cubs
Last night, the Washington Nationals defeated the Cubs 4-1 for their first win against Chicago this year. Here are our takeaways:
Back on May 6, the Washington Nationals saw arguably one of Max Scherzer’s worst starts in a Nats uniform when he gave up seven runs and four home runs over five innings. Last night, it was a much different Scherzer as the Nats defeated the Cubs for the first time in 2016 and they picked up their 40th win of the season. Plus, they increased their NL East lead to five games (Mets were off).
Scherzer went seven innings, gave up one run on two hits and struck out 11 batters on 96 pitches (63 strikes) as he picked up his third consecutive win. This was the start the Nats needed from their ace to start off one of their most important series of the season so far.
As for the offense, they finally had some success against Kyle Hendricks as they scored more runs against him last night than they had in their three prior starts against the 26-year-old right-hander.
In this game, Dusty Baker had his runners get aggressive on the bases and made Chicago’s defense make mistakes, such as in the third inning when Dexter Fowler made a bad throw to third base that allowed Jayson Werth to score the game’s first run.
Before the Cubs and Nats play game two of their three game series tonight (7:05 p.m ET, MASN/MLB Network), here are my three takeaways from last night’s 4-1 win by the Washington Nationals:
Next: Scherzer Shuts Down Cubs
Scherzer Shuts Down Cubs
As I mentioned before, Scherzer’s first outing against the Cubs was one of the worst starts he had in a Nats uniform. But, one of the things I remember from that game were his postgame comments that were a little concerning at the time:
Last night, Scherzer stuck to his gameplan and it worked perfect for him. He struck out eight of the first nine hitters he faced and it appeared he was on his way to another historic outing.
The Nats’ right-hander made one mistake in the game when he hung a 3-2 slider to Addison Russell. Russell ended up hitting a solo home run on the ninth pitch of the at-bat for the Cubs’ first hit of the game.
Since that May 6 outing, Scherzer has had four double-digit strikeouts in his last seven games and he has 11 strikeouts in two of his last three outings. Over the course of his last three starts, he has given up a total of three runs over the last 22 innings.
On a night where the Washington Nationals needed their ace to have a great outing, Scherzer delivered big time, despite only throwing ten first pitch strikes to the 23 batters that he faced.
While Stephen Strasburg is undefeated right now, Scherzer would still be the pitcher that you want on the mound in a big spot like last night was.
Next: Offense Gets To Hendricks
Nats Offense Finally Gets To Hendricks
Even though the Washington Nationals offense had been on a tear last night, they were going up against a pitcher in Kyle Hendricks who was able to shut them down. Coming into the game last night, he had only given up three runs in three starts.
The big inning on offense in this game was the bottom of the sixth. After the Cubs tied the game in the top of the frame, Wilson Ramos got the run right back in the bottom of the inning when he led off with a solo home run to right.
After the solo home runs, the hits kept coming. After an Anthony Rendon double, Danny Espinosa singled to left to put the Nats up 3-1. Espinosa has now driven in a run in four of his last five games. Two batters later, against Justin Grimm, Ben Revere singled to right to extend the lead to 4-1.
All three runs were charged to Hendricks, who went 5.1 innings, gave up four runs (three earned runs) on six hits, struck out four, and walked four in a loss.
Two other things that stood out in terms of offense in this game were that the Cubs finally pitched to Bryce Harper (17 pitches in five at-bats) and in the fifth inning, Chicago pitched around Daniel Murphy to get to Ryan Zimmerman with the bases loaded.
Once again, that strategy paid off and Zimmerman is now 2-for-23 against the Cubs this season. It will be interesting to see whether or not Zimmerman can come through with the clutch hit in the next two days.
Kelley The New Closer?
On a night where Jonathan Papelbon was unavailable, the Nats needed someone to turn to get the final six outs after Scherzer left the game, Oliver Perez got the first out in the eighth inning when he struck out Javier Baez swinging. Then, Dusty Baker gave the ball to Shawn Kelley.
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Once Kelley came in the game, the strikeouts kept coming. In the 1.2 innings that he threw, the 32-year-old right-hander struck out four of the six batters he faced, which was a season-high.
Out of the four strikeouts that he had, only three of them were swinging strikeouts. The big question now is what role Kelley will have now that Papelbon was placed on the disabled list earlier today.
The #Nats have reinstated RHP Matt Belisle and placed RHP Jonathan Papelbon on the 15-day DL (retro 6/13) with a right intercostal strain.
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) June 14, 2016
The Washington Nationals now need a new closer for the time being. While Felipe Rivero and Sammy Solis would be good options, the guy I would turn to is Kelley.
Even though Kelley has just five saves in his career, he does have closer experience. In 27 appearances this season, teams have hit only .181 against him and left-handers are 3-for-20 (.150) with one RBI.
Next: District Daily: Nats, Kieboom Come To Terms
Right now, Kelley has 34 strikeouts, which is the second most of any Nats’ reliever (three behind Rivero). But, he does lead the team in strikeouts per nine innings among relievers (13.1). Baker is one of those managers who will be creative with his bullpen, but if Papelbon was out for a while, I would tend to give Kelley the first chance at closing games.