Scherzer one strike from a perfect game
Pitcher’s no-hitter comes on heels of a one-hitter
Max Scherzer pitched a no-hitter and came agonizingly close to a perfect game, hitting a batter with two outs in the ninth inning Saturday in the Washington Nationals’ 6-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Scherzer was masterful in retiring the first 26 hitters. He came within one strike of throwing the 22nd perfect game in major league history since 1900.
Pinch-hitter Jose Tabata fouled off three 2-2 pitches before Scherzer clipped him on the elbow with a breaking ball. Tabata dropped his elbow as the pitch approached and Scherzer immediately grimaced after plunking him.
Scherzer (8-5) then retired Josh Harrison on a deep fly to left and was swallowed up by jubilant teammates near the mound.
After finishing off his first career no-hitter, the Nationals’ ace admitted there was a bit of a letdown when he hit Tabata.
“I mean there is, just because you’re so close, one strike away from a perfect game,” he said. “But to get a no-hitter in front of these fans, there’s nothing better.”
The 30-year-old righty struck out 10 in his second straight dominant performance and was cheered by a crowd of 41,104.
Scherzer got help from his infield in the late innings.
In the eighth, shifted second baseman Danny Espinosa barely threw out Pedro Alvarez from shallow right field to end the inning.
“Man, that was just a great play,” Scherzer said.
Leading off the ninth, third baseman Anthony Rendon ran hard to catch a foul pop by Gregory Polanco and wound up bent over the dugout railing.
In his previous start, Scherzer took a perfect game into the seventh at Milwaukee and finished with a one-hitter and 16 strikeouts. The lone hit was a leadoff single by Carlos Gomez just beyond reach of Rendon, who was playing second base.
Scherzer turned in perhaps the most magnificent consecutive starts in the majors since Johnny Vander Meer pitched back-to-back no-hitters for Cincinnati in 1938.
Scherzer wound up with his third career shutout. He had one in 219 lifetime starts before these two in a row.