Washington fans down on Tabata
WASHINGTON — By the time Jose Tabata arrived Sunday morning at Nationals Park, he already knew he was public enemy No. 1 in the nation’s capitol.
Saturday, Tabata, a pinch-hitter, spoiled Max
Scherzer’s perfect game by taking a slider off the elbow guard with two outs in the ninth. Scherzer became the 12th pitcher to lose a perfect game with two outs in the ninth, and the third to hold on for a no-hitter.
Coming in cold off the bench, Tabata knew Scherzer was chasing history. He also knew his job was to find a way to get on base — the Pirates, after all, never before had fallen prey to a perfect game.
Scherzer’s 2-2 slider was the type of pitch hurlers refer to as a cement mixer — plenty of spin, but it doesn’t move. Tabata tucked his elbow in tight to his body, and the pitch nicked his elbow protector.
“It was a slider that just backed up, and it hit him,” Scherzer said. “I don’t blame him for doing it. I mean, heck, I’d probably do the same thing.”
The outside world stewed, brewing a storm of opinions centered on the question of whether Tabata leaned into the pitch. Nationals fans, and many others, argued he did. Many experts disagreed.
“Looked like a totally normal reaction from a hitter to an inside breaking ball,” Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Brandon McCarthy tweeted. “Why the hate?”
Former major league reliever C.J. Nitkowski, now a Fox Sports 1 analyst, wrote that Tabata’s approach “was a natural reaction. Let’s not overanalyze. Let’s not bury Tabata or call for a change in the rules. This happens often in baseball.”
The outside noise didn’t keep Pirates manager Clint Hurdle from slotting Tabata in the starting lineup Sunday, and it didn’t keep Nationals fans from booing en masse any time Tabata so much as moved a muscle.
“I’m not surprised at all,” Hurdle said of the outcry. “Fans are fans. … We live in a very reactive society.”
Tabata, who went 1 for 4, said nobody in the Nationals organization said anything to him.
“It’s very professional on the other side,” he said.
Scherzer gives back
After the game Saturday, Hurdle sent the official lineup cards down to the Nationals clubhouse in case Scherzer wanted more memorabilia from his first career no-hitter.
Scherzer sent them right back — “I’ve got a whole bunch of stuff,” he said — but signed the cards for Hurdle, who plans to put them up for a charity cause.
Walker returns
Second baseman Neil Walker wasn’t in the Pirates lineup Sunday, but that was part of the plan with Nationals left-hander Gio Gonzalez on the mound.
Walker, who missed the previous four games with abdominal discomfort, pinch-hit in the sixth and singled to left.