The $210 million contract that brought Max Scherzer to Washington will follow him for the rest of his career. It is the context in which his performances will be viewed, the number that will be attached to his name when he wins Cy Young awards, or struggles to pitch out of the fifth inning, or does anything in between. In some ways, it is an unfair measuring stick.
Yet through four starts this season, Scherzer has shown why he was entrusted with such a mind-boggling contract. In Thursday’s 4-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, for instance, he allowed just two runs and six hits over seven innings with four strikeouts. He threw one wild pitch and hit one batter, but did not allow a walk. It was his worst start of the year, and that fact alone is a testament to how impressive he’s been thus far.
“I wouldn’t have thought this was his worst one. Just tells you how good he’s been,” manager Matt Williams said. “We had a lot of opportunities that we didn’t come through for him. We’ll just keep doing that though. We’ll come through.”
The Nationals have several areas of concern early in the season, and many of them were on display Thursday. They finished 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position, showing an ability to put men on base and an inability to get them home. Their bullpen, which seems to be a collection of newcomers or players adjusting to new roles, struggled again. And they continued to play sloppy defense, committing their major-league leading 17th error of the season in the eighth inning.
Of all their concerns, however, Scherzer is definitely not one.
The right-hander’s record is 1-2, but his individual performances tell a different story. He started Opening Day against the New York Mets and didn’t allow an earned run in 72/3 innings, but was saddled with the loss after defensive errors resulted in three unearned runs. The 30-year-old then gave up two earned runs over a combined 14 innings in back-to-back starts against the Philadelphia Phillies, but he was only credited with a winning decision in one of those games.
The season is still young, but Scherzer has already recorded 29 strikeouts and four walks. His performance Thursday raised his ERA from 0.83 to 1.26.
“He’s tough, man,” center fielder Denard Span said. “He’s coming from that three-quarters angle, just keeping hitters off balance. He throws everything. I faced him plenty of times when he was in Detroit, but [this was my] first time playing behind him and he’s as good as advertised.”
Scherzer threw only 82 pitches through seven innings Thursday and could have continued. But in the fifth inning, when he hit a routine ground ball to shortstop, he jammed his thumb. Scherzer reached safely when Cardinals first baseman Matt Adams failed to touch the base, then went from first to third on an RBI single by Span. He returned to the mound for two more innings, but did not feel as comfortable, so he left the game when his spot in the order came back around in the seventh.
“It was one of those situations where it was smart to come out and my spot was coming up in the order and we were down, so it was definitely a little bit of everything,” Scherzer said. “Use a little bit of caution and try to get a chance to get a real stick in there and get a run or two. That’s just a situation being in the National League where you’ve got to take advantage of that.”
Scherzer has spearheaded a rotation that entered Thursday with a 3.24 cumulative ERA. And for all the concerns about the bullpen, the Nationals have a 3.08 ERA as a team. Scherzer has been pleased with his performance so far, specifically his consecutive outings without a walk, but he is not content.
“Obviously when you lose a couple games on a run, you always go back and rethink of how you would’ve handled yourself in different situations,” Scherzer said. “Even though I felt like I threw the ball well today, there’s plenty of things I’d rethink of how I would’ve done things differently.”
The Nationals certainly share that sentiment. Their ace has lived up to his side of the bargain, but they have largely failed to support him, both at the plate and in the field. There’s plenty of time left for that to change, however, and the Nationals know exactly what needs to be done.
“We’ve just got to tighten up,” Span said. “When you’re playing good teams like St. Louis, you can’t make mistakes. You’ve got to capitalize on opportunities when you get them. And if you don’t do those things, then you’re not going to come out on top.”
• Tom Schad can be reached at tschad@washingtontimes.com.
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