Max Scherzer allowed two hits over eight innings and Bryce Harper’s two-run double helped the Washington Nationals avoid a four-game home-and-home sweep with a 4-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday night.
Scherzer (14-7) struck out 10 and did not walk a batter. He retired 12 straight after Adam Jones’s fourth-inning double and 21 of 22 before Mark Trumbo’s leadoff single in the eighth.
Jayson Werth’s solo home run staked Washington to a 1-0 lead. Daniel Murphy’s RBI double in the eighth came before Harper’s second hit helped the Nationals pull away.
The Nationals had lost four straight including three in a row to the Orioles, who won twice in Baltimore before the teams shifted to Washington.
Ubaldo Jimenez (5-11) allowed one run and five hits over six innings.
Trumbo stole second base with two outs in the eighth, but J.J. Hardy flied out to deep center field on Scherzer’s 95th and final pitch. Mark Melancon allowed one hit in the ninth.
Scherzer won his second straight start, but was far more dominant than in each of his two previous outings when he allowed eight runs and struck out nine.
The right-hander retired the first nine batters and struck out two in each of the first three innings. Scherzer recorded his 47th game — 11th this season — with at least 10 strikeouts.
He helped his own cause defensively in the fifth without seeing the ball. With his back facing home plate, Scherzer fielded a comebacker hit by Jonathan Schoop between his legs and threw him out at first base.
Manny Machado helped fuel Baltimore’s offense in the three wins including a home run in Wednesday’s 10-8 triumph. On Thursday he went hitless in four at-bats and 0 for 3 against Scherzer, falling to 1 of 18 all-time in the head-to-head matchup. Machado struck out with Jones on third and one out in the fourth.
After Jones was left stranded, Werth hammered the first pitch in the bottom of the fourth over the wall in center field.
Harper singled in the fourth and stole his 18th base, matching his career-high.
Jimenez made his first start since July 28, but has lost three straight. He made three relief appearances before re-entering Baltimore’s rotation.
Orioles manager Buck Showalter said right-hander Chris Tillman (right shoulder bursitis) will throw on flat ground Monday or Tuesday.
Nationals right-hander Stephen Strasburg, on the 15-day DL with right elbow soreness, played catch the last two days, Nationals manager Dusty Baker said. Baker said the soreness is not in the same spot where Strasburg had Tommy John surgery in 2010.
The Orioles’ Yovani Gallardo (4-5, 5.08) and Yankees right-hander Luis Cessa (3-0, 4.01 ERA) open the three-game series in New York on Friday.
Nationals lefty Gio Gonzalez (8-9, 4.30) faces Rockies righty Jeff Hoffman (0-1, 13.50) in the first of three games against Colorado on Friday.
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