Scherzer strikes out 20 in Nationals' win over Tigers
WASHINGTON -- In a pitcher's duel that lived up to the hype, Max Scherzer allowed two runs and struck out 20 to tie a MLB record as the Washington Nationals beat his former team, the Detroit Tigers, 3-2 on Wednesday.
Scherzer, who walked none, struck out the side in the eighth to give him 18 strikeouts and set a Nationals franchise record.
He gave up a solo homer to J.D. Martinez to start the ninth as the Tigers cut the lead to 3-2. But Scherzer then struck out Miguel Cabrera, allowed a single to Victor Martinez, fanned Justin Upton and got James McCann on a grounder to end the game.
Washington's Daniel Murphy had his second hit of the game, a liner to left, to drive in the tie-breaking run in the sixth to give the Nationals a 2-1 lead off Detroit starter Jordan Zimmermann (5-1). His hit scored Anthony Rendon, who had singled and stolen base before a walk to Bryce Harper.
The Tigers escaped more damage as Murphy was thrown out in a rundown after his single for the first out of the inning. Former National Zimmermann then got Jayson Werth to hit into a double play to end the sixth.
But Danny Espinosa hit a solo homer off Zimmermann in the seventh to give the Nationals a 3-1 lead. Murphy doubled in the eighth for his third hit but he was overshadowed by Scherzer (4-2), who allowed just six hits. He struck out 17 last October in a no-hitter at New York against the Mets.
Zimmermann, who entered the game with a league-best ERA of 1.10, yielded seven hits and three runs in seven innings. The ex-Washington pitcher got a nice round of applause when he came to bat in the third inning.
Rendon and Harper had two hits for the Nationals while Martinez had three for the Tigers, giving him seven hits in the past two games.
The Nationals (21-13) won two of three games in the series while the Tigers (15-18) lost for the eighth time in nine games.
The Tigers tied the game at 1-1 with a solo homer in the third off Scherzer by Jose Iglesias, who went deep for the first time this year in 96 at-bats and just the seventh long-ball of his career that began in 2011.
Murphy had an RBI single off Zimmermann in the first to make it 1-0 as he drove in Anthony Rendon, who had doubled and gone to third on a hard single by Harper.
Murphy was batting cleanup for the first time this year back of Harper, as Washington manager Dusty Baker reasoned that Murphy had faced Zimmermann several times when the hitter played for the New York Mets.
Both starters have thrown no-hitters at Nationals Park, but that possibility ended early for both Wednesday. Zimmermann gave up three hits in the first and Scherzer yielded a flare single to left in the second to Victor Martinez.
Scherzer fanned 11 batters in the first five innings, and struck out the side in the second and third. Zimmermann gave up four hits in the first five innings with two strikeouts.
Scherzer now has 37 games in his career with 10 strikeouts or better. He struck out two batters in the first with 97 mile-per-hour fastballs, two more in the second on 88 mile-per-hour sliders and got Anthony Gose in the fifth on a change of 87.
It was the first time since Sept. 12, 2011 that two pitchers who had won at least 70 games for the opposing teams met. Roy Oswalt pitched for the Philadelphia Phillies that night against Brett Myers of the Houston Astros.
NOTES: Major League Baseball announced that Bryce Harper has been suspended one game for his actions toward home plate umpire Brian Knight after he was ejected in the ninth inning of Monday's game with the Tigers. Harper plans to appeal the suspension; he started in right field on Wednesday while Knight was the umpire at second base.