Wheels fall off for Mets vs. Nats
Wheeler walks 7 of team’s 12, helps Scherzer get win
Starting for the third time in his club’s first eight games, Washington ace Max Scherzer earned his first win in the least effective outing of the three.
Anthony Rendon backed him with a three-run homer, and the Nationals were helped by 12 walks in a 12-9 win over the New York Mets on Sunday.
Scherzer (1-2) allowed four runs and eight hits in 61/3 innings with seven strikeouts, no walks and two hit batters, and he also singled in the game’s first run. He lost his opening two starts for the first time in his big league career, to the Mets and Philadelphia, though he did go 0-3 over his first six starts in 2009.
Despite being struck on the right leg by a hard-hit grounder off the bat of Keon Broxton in the fifth inning, Scherzer recovered to make the play and remained in the game to face 10 more batters.
“It was fine during the game, was able to just kind of keep it moving so it didn’t tighten up,” Scherzer said, standing in front of his locker with his leg wrapped. “Once I came out of the game, once you lose the adrenaline, it tightened up pretty good. It kind of hurts to walk right now. But this is just a little bone bruise. I’ll be fine.”
Washington took two of three from their NL East rival.
“His leg got stiff there at the end so I had to go get him out, but Max being Max, he competed all day and he pitched unbelievable,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said.
Washington opened a 12-1 lead by the seventh inning, when Rendon hit his fourth home run of the season, a drive off the facing of the second deck in left-center. Kurt Suzuki had two hits and two RBIS. Aside from Scherzer, every Nationals starter walked at least once.
Zack Wheeler (0-1) struggled to command his fastball and gave up seven runs, four hits and a careerhigh seven walks in 42/3 innings, throwing strikes on just 51 of 103 pitches.
“Just an embarrassing day for me,” Wheeler said.
Reliever Tim Peterson threw a runscoring wild pitch to his first batter and walked five, including one with the bases loaded. Mets pitchers had not walked 12 in a nine-inning game since March 31, 2003, on opening day against the Chicago Cubs.
“The command, the control, just too many walks,” Mets manager Mickey Callaway said.
Mired in a 2-for-27 slump, Brandon Nimmo doubled in a run off of Scherzer in the seventh.
Rookie Pete Alonso hit a three-run homer against Matt Grace later in the inning, the rookie’s third home run this season.