Max Scherzer was rolling on Wednesday afternoon, until he suddenly was not. Nobody could get a hit off of the Washington Nationals ace, who was mowing down batters with his typical strikeout pitches and causing some to fall to the ground, flustered by the pitches they were seeing. He carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning of the matinee against the Miami Marlins; so how did his team manage to lose the game?
Scherzer dominates the Marlins
Everything was working for Scherzer on Wednesday. He hit Derek Dietrich with a pitch in the second innings, officially counting as his second walk on the afternoon.
Then, he went on to retire the next 18 batters who stepped into the box. He struck out 11 batters, the sixth straight game he has reached double-digit strikeouts (a new record for the team's time in Washington). He even made the legendary Ichiro Suzuki look silly.
Max Scherzer just made Ichiro fall over trying to hit his Slider pic.twitter.com/qOAeNSFug7
— Pitcher List (@ThePitcherList) June 21, 2017
Scherzer was still rolling when backup catcher A.J. Ellis came to the plate in the eighth inning. The veteran is not normally one to beat out an infield single, but that's what happened. It hit Scherzer's glove before bouncing towards Nationals shortstop Trea Turner, who couldn't make the barehanded pick-up and throw to first base.
With that, the no-hitter was over. The wheels would quickly come off after that.
Nationals collapse
Suddenly, nothing went right for the Nationals. First baseman Adam Lind couldn't handle a low throw, committing an error and putting a second runner on. Then, Scherzer hit another batter to load the bases up with two outs, protecting just a one-run lead.
He proceeded to throw a wild pitch to bring the tying runner home, then allowed Marlins star Giancarlo Stanton to hit an RBI single to give the Marlins the lead. Neither run was earned, but both ultimately contributed to the 2-1 loss.
It was a hard luck loss for Scherzer, who dropped to 8-5 on the season, despite coming just a few outs away from his third career no-hitter, and the second in the MLB this season.
He managed to drop his ERA to 2.08, the best mark in the National League, and increase his league-leading strikeout total to 145. Ryan Zimmerman and Daniel Murphy were both confined to the bench for the afternoon while Bryce Harper struggled, shutting off the power valve to the team. Nonetheless, the Nationals still have a big lead in the NL East and should be able to bounce back when Stephen Strasburg takes the mound at home on Friday against the Cincinnati Reds.
