Scherzer hurt, Giants beat Nationals 1-0

WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington ace Max Scherzer left after just 12 pitches with a groin injury, Buster Posey homered and the San Francisco Giants beat the Nationals 1-0 on Friday on Anthony DeSclafani’s career-best two-hitter.

Scherzer retired leadoff batter LaMonte Wade Jr. on a fly ball to left and had a 3-2 count on Brandon Belt when he stretched his body, and manager Dave Martinez and director of athletic training Paul Lessard went to the mound.

Scherzer took one warmup toss before exiting. The 36year-old right-hander with three Cy Young Awards is 5-4 with a 2.21 ERA and began the night second in the NL with 104 strikeouts.

“All of a sudden I felt my groin tweak me,” Scherzer said.

“The good news is that it is not a muscle strain. I am really day-to-day. I am very confident this will be very mild.”

Scherzer said an MRI showed only inflammation.

“It was a lot better news than I thought,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. “We’re still not out of the woods. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow.”

DeSclafani (6-2) struck out eight and walked one in his third career shutout and complete game. Mike Tauchman leaped at the left field wall to rob Juan Soto in the seventh.

“That was insane — huge catch,” DeSclafani said. “If you don’t make that it’s a tie ballgame and I probably don’t go nine.”

Posey homered in the fourth, driving a slider from Paolo Espino (0-2) into the Giants bullpen in left for his 11th homer this season.

Espino, who entered on short notice after the Scherzer injury, struck out five in 3 1/3 innings while allowing one run on three hits. Five Nationals relievers combined to allow four hits and retired their final 16 batters.