Scherzer gets nine strikeouts in Nationals’ 1-0 win
Wind that topped 30 mph and sent napkins twirling around Nationals Park rippled Max Scherzer’s white jersey and dried out his hands.
His forearm was a little sore from trying to grip the baseball hard enough to control where it would go when he let it fly. He loaded the bases in the first inning and needed 49 pitches just to get through two.
Scherzer (1-1) figured things out, retired 12 his last 13 batters and struck out nine in six innings to move up to No. 21 on the career K’s leaderboard, helping the Nationals edge St. Louis 1-0 Wednesday in Washington.
He struck out Dylan Carlson swinging through a 93 mph fastball with his 109th and final pitch. The righty’s strikeout of Justin Williams to end the fourth gave Scherzer 2,814 for his career, moving him one ahead of Mike Mussina. Next up: Mickey Lolich, whose 2,832 strikeouts rank 20th in MLB history.
Brad Hand worked the ninth for the save. It’s his 24th successful save chance in a row, the longest active streak in the majors. RANGERS 7, ANGELS 4 >> Adolis García hit a goahead, three-run homer in the eighth inning in visiting Texas’ victory over Los Angeles.
Nate Lowe homered immediately after García’s drive for the Rangers. They have won six of nine after jumping on Los Angeles’ bullpen for six late runs to take two of three.
García added his 411-foot, go-ahead homer to his impressive list of big hits for Texas since coming up last week for his first significant big league action since 2018.
BREWERS 4, PADRES 2 >> Omar Narvaez hit a two-run homer, Jace Peterson added a solo shot and visiting Milwaukee beat San Diego to complete a three-game sweep.
San Diego right-hander Dinelson Lamet left his season debut after two scoreless innings due to right forearm tightness. DIAMONDBACKS 5, REDS 4 >> Stefan Crichton pitched a scoreless ninth for his second save, helping visiting Arizona beat Cincinnati in the completion of a game suspended Tuesday night. The game was halted because of heavy rain, and soon snow. The restart Wednesday was delayed 25 minutes because of a band of heavy snow that passed through before the sun came out. Reds reliever Lucas Sims then pitched out of a bases-loaded jam, but Cincinnati was shut out in its last two chances.