There are a variety of stats that suggest Max Scherzer is still one of the top pitchers in baseball. Among them, the Nationals’ ace leads the National League in strikeouts with 98 and in Wins Above Replacement for pitchers, according to FanGraphs.
But in his own words, Scherzer is “here to win ballgames” — something the Nationals can’t seem to do when the 34-year-old takes the mound this season, perhaps to no fault of his own.
Washington wasted another solid Scherzer effort Monday with a 3-2 loss to the Miami Marlins. The Nationals are now just 2-10 in Scherzer’s starts, the latest defeat coming after a series of defensive errors cost Washington’s chance of recording its first sweep of the season.
Scherzer allowed just one run in six innings, only for his team to lose. Again.
“I don’t live in what I could be or this or that,” said Scherzer, who now has a 3.26 ERA. “I live in winning and losing. It’s frustrating when you pitch and you lose because no matter how well you pitch or how poorly you pitch, it doesn’t matter. You always think what would it take to win the ballgame.”
Three issues — a lack of run support, defensive miscues and a shaky bullpen — have plagued the Nationals with Scherzer on the mound this season, all of which occurred on Monday against the Marlins.
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In the seventh, with Scherzer done for the day, reliever Tanner Rainey immediately walked his first batter in Miguel Rojas. That mistake was costly, but it wasn’t as damaging as first baseman Matt Adams’ following error in failing to tag Jose Urena after the Miami pitcher’s bunt.
Later in the inning, Harold Ramirez grounded into a forceout at second — but Washington was unable to turn it into a double play in time. Miami scored off that play to tie the game at 2.
Then in the eighth, the Marlins loaded the bases in part because of an error from Trea Turner, who sailed the ball over Adams’ head at first base — giving Starlin Castro enough time to reach third. Two bats later, reliever Kyle Barraclough then gave up a sacrifice fly to Rojas, scoring Castro.
“We just didn’t make two plays and it cost us two runs,” manager Dave Martinez said.
“I just threw the ball high,” Turner said.
The Nationals, perhaps, could have overcome those mistakes, if they had scored more runs earlier in the game. Their two runs came in the fifth, one on an RBI single from Scherzer. The Nationals, too, had the bases loaded in the eighth, but failed to score.
Before the game, Martinez noted the Nationals had been swinging the ball well as of late, so he had hoped the team’s offense would carry for their three-time Cy Young winner. In Washington’s first three wins of the series, the Nationals scored 12, five and nine runs, respectively.
But Washington couldn’t solve Urena, whose two-seam fastball and changeup kept hitters quiet for most of the contest.
Nonetheless, the Nationals failed to score more than three runs for the 10th time in 12 Scherzer starts.
“Stats don’t lie, he has the ERA, the strikeouts, stats are there for him,” Turner said. “That’s why baseball is a hard game, you can pitch well but team wise you got to contribute to starts like that.”
Scherzer finished the afternoon with 103 pitches, which was actually lower than his last five starts. Asked why Scherzer wasn’t given another inning, Martinez cited the pitch count and that Scherzer had piled up “17, 18, 19-pitch innings.”
“He threw unbelievable,” Martinez said. “That sixth inning he let it all out there and we talked before, he had 103 pitches and I told him that was good, we’ll hold it right here. And like I said, Rainey threw the ball well, Barr came in and threw the ball well, we just made two mistakes.”
• Matthew Paras can be reached at mparas@washingtontimes.com.
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