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