Monday night’s pitching matchup at Nationals Park featured more than just two friends and former teammates squaring off. It was two friends and former teammates each with Cy Young Awards on their resumes.
Max Scherzer and Rick Porcello headlined the low-scoring affair everyone expected when the Washington Nationals hosted the Boston Red Sox in the first of a three-game set. But what fans didn’t expect was that a swing of Porcello’s bat played a role in deciding the winner.
Porcello hit a three-run double off Scherzer that plated as many runs as the Nationals would score all evening. Combined with his solid evening on the mound, Porcello powered the Red Sox to a 4-3 win, and may have put a temporary strain on his friendship with Scherzer, to boot.
Scherzer did not have his best command on display, recording a wild pitch and two hit batters, but he still managed a decent line of nine strikeouts, four hits and three earned runs across six innings in the loss.
Porcello gave up seven hits over six innings and struck out just five, but limited the offense to just two earned runs off a pair of solo home runs by Anthony Rendon and Daniel Murphy. Outside of those two pitches, Porcello did not allow a National to reach third base.
The Nationals have now lost four of Scherzer’s last five starts with little run support to back him up. Scherzer (10-5) has not had a winning decision since June 5, defusing his hot start to the season.
It was just the top of the second inning when the first Scherzer-Porcello showdown came to pass. Scherzer had already allowed Mitch Moreland to single and Brock Holt to walk. Sandy Leon struck out swinging at a wild pitch, meaning the runners advanced while first base was left open.
So Scherzer, working with two outs, intentionally walked Jackie Bradley Jr. to bring up Porcello. It was the American League pitcher’s first at-bat of the season and 36th career plate appearance. The argument could be made that it was the right strategy for Scherzer on paper.
But after two strikes, Porcello made his old teammate pay by pinging one to deep left field, over Juan Soto’s head, to clear the bases.
Porcello, a lifetime .156 batter before Monday, nabbed the first extra-base hit of his career and his only RBIs since 2009.
“I wish I had a lot to say about that, but I don’t really know what happened,” Porcello said. “Obviously I know he’s got a good fastball and I just got lucky. He got to the top of his windup and I told myself, ’Start swinging.’”
Scherzer said he knew Porcello could hit and took the blame for not executing the pitch.
“(I gave) him a couple sliders to keep him off balance and then was trying to get a fastball up and away and it ran back middle-in,” Scherzer said. “Anybody can hit middle-in. He can do that. I’ve seen him do it. That’s where you’ve got to be better, no matter what.”
“That’s baseball, right there,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “I always believe that if there’s somebody in the batter’s box with a bat, they always have a chance. Pitchers are gonna make mistakes, you’re gonna put a good swing on it or run into something.”
Scherzer labored through the top of the third, although he didn’t allow a run then, and had thrown 73 pitches before his first at-bat in the bottom of that inning. He grounded out to Porcello, of all people — and would do exactly the same in the fifth inning.
“They got a lineup that really grinds you apart,” Scherzer said. “Really there after the third I was pretty tired, but I found a way to still dig down and work with (catcher Pedro Severino) and just do what we can to pitch deep into the game to try to give the team a chance.”
Scherzer did get Porcello back by striking him out in the fourth and the sixth. And when Scherzer struck out Andrew Benintendi for the third time of the night, and it marked the pitcher’s 1,000th strikeout as a National, a nice footnote to an otherwise disappointing evening.
Boston maintained its narrow lead the rest of the night as Mookie Betts homered off Brandon Kintzler as soon as Scherzer left the game. Bryce Harper posted his 21st homer of the year in the eighth inning, but the rest of the offense came up short.
Before Monday’s game, Porcellotold the Boston Globe he was “honored” to be Scherzer’s friend. They played together in the Tigers’ rotation from 2010 to 2014, and when they won the AL and NL Cy Youngs in 2016, they hit the bar to celebrate after accepting the awards in New York.
Porcello said it felt strange going up against his old teammate and pal.
“You try and stay in the game, focus on what you got to focus on, but obviously we’ve had a lot of memories and things like that over the years when we were in Detroit together,” he said. “It was fun to compete against him and I’m looking forward to going and seeing him afterwards.”
• Adam Zielonka can be reached at azielonka@washingtontimes.com.
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