There was no denying Max Scherzer Sunday. The three-time Cy Young winner overpowered the Cincinnati Reds bats to the tune of 15 strikeouts, as the Washington Nationals took the rubber match of their three-game series 4-1.
Scherzer had 14 strikeouts and a runner on second base, nursing the three-run lead, when the often-dangerous Joey Votto came to the plate in the eighth. Scherzer was up to 117 pitches. Given Votto already had a big double in the fourth, and Scherzer being prone to the long ball, Nationals manager Davey Martinez was ready to call on the bullpen int he big moment. However, Scherzer had second thoughts.
Just as Martinez was walking out to the mound, Scherzer was seen emphatically saying “No!”
The ace and the skipper exchanged words before Martinez ultimately walked back to the dugout.
“He’s got a lot of pitches and I just want to hear it from him,” Martinez explained of the exchange at the mound, per Byron Kerr of MASN. “We kind of exchanged some non-professional words, but it was good to hear he wanted (the) battle.”
Scherzer caught Votto looking with three straight strikes, the last a four-seam that catcher Kurt Suzuki framed on the outside corner of the plate. The strikeout ended the eight and concluded a marvelous performance by Scherzer.
My arm felt great, even in the eighth,” Scherzer said. “I knew I had plenty in the tank to keep pitching. I just wanted the ball in that situation. I know myself and I know I want the ball.”
Not many can blame Scherzer. The Nationals were 2-10 in his 12 starts with a woeful bullpen that has managed to blow 11 save opportunities during the season. Scherzer had left his last two starts with the lead, only for the Nationals to lose.
Sunday was a matter of Scherzer taking matters into his own hands. And for it the Nationals closed out their third-straight series win and their seventh win in nine games.
