Noah Syndergaard and Matt Harvey each threw well, but the Washington Nationals swept a day-night doubleheader – after Bryce Harper’s homer won the opener 3-1, Scherzer threw his second no-hitter of the season in a 2-0 victory.
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Scherzer is just the sixth pitcher in Major League Baseball history to achieve the milestone in the same year and he did it against a Mets team that had already locked up the National League East Division title.
Familia tied the saves record in his first season as closer. One day earlier, Syndergaard limited the Dodgers to one run and two hits in six innings to earn a 2-1 win in a game where Kershaw had no decision.
The only thing that kept his performance from being a ideal game was an error by third baseman Yunel Escobar in the sixth inning. Both no-hitters came against teams that are headed to the 2015 playoffs, which shows the dominance of “Mad Max”. DeGrom walked two – both in the second inning – and struck out seven.
Seattle’s Marshawn Lynch is likely a no-go against the Lions defense because of a hamstring injury, which has limited him to just 128 yards rushing through the first three weeks.
For the second time this season, Scherzer tossed a no-hitter and gave Nats fans something to cheer about in these dark days of the season.
Washington Nationals starter Max Scherzer (31) pitches against the… “To do it twice in a single season, my gosh, it doesn’t appear potential”.
On being the first pitcher since Ryan to throw two no-hitters in the regular season, Scherzer said, “Speechless”.
Roark got the start for the Nationals and the right-hander turned in one of his best starts of the year. “Glad we got there!”
Granderson hit one of the very few hard balls off Scherzer, lining out to second baseman Dan Uggla in the fourth.
And while the NL East champions geared up for their playoff matchup with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the second-place Nationals (83-79) headed home left to ponder what went so horribly wrong for a team pegged World Series favorites way back in spring training.
At times, Scherzer looked as if he was simply playing catch with Wilson Ramos. Thank goodness for the so-called “Buster Posey Rule”. The young slugger needs one more RBI for 100. “I don’t know what to say”. “I think I’ll be ready”.
“I wanted to help the team accomplish our goal”. The last 9-of-10 outs from Scherzer came on strikeouts, all of which were swinging strikeouts. Jose Altuve homered and doubled for Houston. The Mets, however, ralied in the bottom of the seventh, scoring their first run in 23 innings on a Juan Lagares single up the middle. “When it lands, you’re thinking triple”.
But recent history suggests the Mets’ quiet finish – they were 5-5 in their last 10 games – does not portend their postseason fate.
“I probably could’ve took the last two weeks off and hit”.
Maybe the Mets tried to sabotage that message with the way the kicked around the final week of the season, all but FedExing the home-field to Los Angeles.
DeGrom finished his sophomore season with a 14-8 record and 2.54 ERA. Granderson hit 26 homers this year. The left-hander struck out four and walked none.
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Robinson Cano had a three-run homer and extended his hitting streak to 15 games for the Mariners. In any case, those were diversions that implied little to the Mets, giving them an insignificant measure of inspiration, similar to the case for quite a bit of September. “I wish I had those three mistakes back”.
