It got historic on Wednesday night as Max Scherzer, who threw two no-hitters a year ago, tied a Major League Baseball record with 20 strikeouts in a 3-2 win over the Detroit Tigers.
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Two home runs – Jose Iglesias in the first inning and J.D. Martinez in the ninth inning – were the only blemishes in his box score.
But while the early noise was made for Zimmermann, the late noise was made for Scherzer, who elevated his game in the top of the seventh inning, after Justin Upton doubled off the center-field fence to put runners on second and third with one out. Only two other pitchers have ever struck out 20 batters in a nine-inning game: Clemens (who did it twice for the Red Sox, on April 29, 1986 against the Mariners and again on September 18, 1996 against the Tigers) and Wood (who allowed just one hit in his masterpiece for the Cubs on May 6, 1998 against the Astros).
Zimmermann, who entered the game with a league-best ERA of 1.10, yielded seven hits and three runs in seven innings.
Zimmermann briefly backed out and tipped his helmet in appreciation, then became Scherzer’s sixth strikeout, going down swinging on a 1-2 curveball.
Toledo manager and former Tigers coach Lloyd McClendon expressed his loyalty to Ausmus while Tigers special assistant and former manager Jim Leyland said he’s confident Ausmus will pull the team out of its slide.
The Nationals (21-13) won two of three games in the series while the Tigers (15-18) lost for the eighth time in nine games. “Everybody knew I wanted the ball, everybody was going to give me the ball”. Scherzer threw his right hand in the air and hugged Wilson Ramos, the newest arrival of a three-man club whose other members include only Roger Clemens and Kerry Wood – the other pitchers to strike out 20 in a nine-inning game. The Nationals are third in the league in WHIP at 1.143.
Less friendly than their fans, the Nationals greeted Zimmermann with three hits in the first, one each from Rendon, Harper and Murphy. There were a handful of people around, a couple photographers, a few reporters, the rest still inside the Nationals clubhouse, gathering quote after quote from his current teammates about the domination he displayed against his former teammates in a complete game win over the Detroit Tigers.
Iglesias third inning home run was his first since July 17, 2015 off of Ubaldo Jimenez.
Scherzer sweetened the deal by making history against his former team.
After Victor Martinez singled and Upton doubled with one out in the seventh, Scherzer got McCann looking and Anthony Gose swinging to escape.
J.D. Martinez clobbered a solo shot in the ninth inning of Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to the Nationals. He’s also trying to help the Tigers win back-to-back games for the first time since a five-game run April 27-May 1. He’s the first pitcher to accomplish the feat since Johnson, a Hall of Famer, did it in 2001.
Tigers: RHP Mike Pelfrey (0-4, 6.23 ERA) is slated to start the opener of a four-game set against the Orioles at Camden Yards, where he’s 2-0 with a 4.41 ERA in his career. This was Scherzer’s 10th home run given up this year in just eight starts.
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The common thought: Opt-outs completely favor the player, because if he is performing well, he likely will be worth more in the future given how much revenue continues to pour into the game.
