Max Scherzer had gone more than two months without a defeat. Now the Washington Nationals ace has lost consecutive starts for the first time in nearly three years.
Marco Estrada took a shutout into the seventh inning Luke Kuechly Jersey , Devon Travis homered and the Toronto Blue Jays beat Scherzer and the Nationals 2-0 on Saturday.
Scherzer (10-3) gave up four hits, including the two-run homer by Travis, in six innings. The two-time NL Cy Young Award winner struck out 10, increasing his major league-leading total to 152.
Scherzer has 10 double-digit strikeout games this season, four more than any other pitcher.
Beaten by a two-run home run from San Francisco’s Brandon Crawford in his previous outing, Scherzer saw this start turn on another two-run homer, with Travis jumping on a hanging slider in the fifth.
”This is Major League Baseball,” Scherzer said. ”One pitch can cost you a game. Now I’ve had it happen twice in back-to-back starts. You can get beat like that. I’ve got to keep executing every single pitch I throw.”
Scherzer last lost two straight starts in a three-game skid in August 2015.
”He pitched really well,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. ”One mistake.”
Travis homered for the second game in a row, going deep to right after Scherzer hit Luke Maile with a pitch.
”He doesn’t make many mistakes so when he does, you’d better hope you take advantage of it,” Travis said. ”If not, it’s probably the only one you’re going to get for the day.”
Estrada (4-6) allowed three hits, one a bunt single, over 6 2/3 innings to win back-to-back starts for the first time this season.
”He’s a big-game pitcher and that’s a really tough lineup over there,” Travis said of Estrada. ”He did a fantastic job today.”
The Blue Jays posted their first shutout since Aug. 10, 2017 against the Yankees, snapping a franchise-long 117-game span between shutouts.
Trea Turner hit a two-out double in the sixth, but Estrada struck out Bryce Harper looking. An exasperated Harper was caught looking again to end the eighth, stranding a runner at first. Harper went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts, dropping his average to .221.
”What I think I’d like for him to do is maybe not swing so much,” Martinez said. ”He’s been swinging a lot, and I really think now is the time to take less swings and just go play.”
Washington has been blanked three times in five games, including Scherzer’s 2-0 loss to San Francisco on June 10 and a 3-0 road loss to the Yankees on June 12.
”It’s surprising but it happens,” Martinez said. ”Sometimes you run into good pitchers.”
Estrada left after Michael A. Taylor’s two-out single put runners at first and second in the seventh. Danny Barnes came on and needed two pitches to retire Wilmer Difo on a groundout.
Barnes and Aaron Loup each got two outs and former Nationals closer Tyler Clippard finished the three-hitter for his third save in six opportunities.
SWEET DREAMS
Travis said it can be tough to get a good night’s rest when Scherzer is scheduled to pitch the following day.
”He’s a guy when you go to sleep at night, you know you’re facing Max Scherzer the next day and your heart starts to beat a little bit already Wes Horton Jersey ,” Travis said. ”You know you’re up for a big challenge. He’s the best in the game.”
SEEN YOU BEFORE
Travis was drafted by Detroit, where Scherzer played from 2010 to 2014. During his first spring training with the Tigers, Travis faced Scherzer multiple times during intrasquad games.
RARE FEAT
Scherzer hadn’t given up a homer to a right-handed batter since Giancarlo Stanton connected for Miami on Aug. 7, 2017.
HOME COOKING
Toronto has won six straight at home after losing 10 of its previous 11 at Rogers Centre.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Nationals: 1B Matt Adams was out of the lineup one day after taking a pitch off his left hand while attempting to bunt. X-rays Friday were inconclusive because of swelling, so Adams will have another X-ray when the Nationals return home Monday. With Adams unavailable, Daniel Murphy started at first, his first defensive action since returning from knee surgery Tuesday.
UP NEXT
Nationals RHP Tanner Roark (3-7, 3.63) faces Blue Jays RHP Sam Gaviglio (2-2, 3.66) in Sunday’s series finale. Roark has won just once in his past seven starts. Gaviglio allowed a season-worst five earned runs in Monday’s loss at Tampa Bay, his second straight losing decision.
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Needing a good night’s sleep, Jose Urena left the ballpark shortly after midnight Wednesday before the end of the Miami Marlins‘ 16-inning loss to Tampa Bay, monitoring the game on his phone as he drove home.
That made him perhaps the best-rested player when the teams returned to the field barely 12 hours later. And it showed.
Urena and three relievers combined on a four-hitter and the Marlins bounced back from their marathon loss to beat Tampa Bay 3-0.
J.T. Riddle singled, tripled and homered.
”There is a little bit of a hangover. I’m not going to lie,” Riddle said. ”You play 16 innings like that, and you come in eight hours later and have to play again, the body doesn’t feel the greatest. But it’s part of your job.”
While both teams were dragging, Urena looked fresh in his first outing since June 20, when he was sidelined by right shoulder impingement. He pitched five scoreless innings and struck out six before departing for a pinch hitter after throwing 78 pitches.
”Everything was good,” Urena said. ”I felt I could go longer, but I haven’t thrown that much the past 12 or 13 days.”
Drew Rucinski (4-1) pitched two scoreless innings for his second win in the series. Brad Ziegler pitched around a walk in the ninth to earn his 10th save.
The Marlins took the series and went 5-5 on their longest homestand of the year. The Rays lost for only the third time in the past 12 games.
Riddle’s RBI triple in the sixth put the Marlins ahead. The ball appeared catchable, but sailed over the head of center fielder Kevin Kiermaier near the wall.
Riddle added his fifth homer in the eighth.
Three Rays – Kiermaier, Daniel Robertson and Jake Bauers – started after playing all 16 innings Tuesday. They went a combined 0 for 11.
”Urena pitched well,” manager Kevin Cash said. ”He kind of changed his approach a little bit, started throwing fastballs in to the lefties and away to the righties. That has generally not been his M.O.”
TANTRUM
When the Rays’ Carlos Gomez returned to the dugout after striking out in the second inning, he took three swings at a cooler, and the resulting thuds could be heard throughout the ballpark.
”He squared it up pretty good Stephen Curry Jersey , it sounded like,” Riddle said.
Gomez then punched another cooler, which sent cups flying over the dugout railing.
Despite all that solid contact, Gomez is batting only .195.
”When I’m angry, I’m not thinking really well,” he said. ”If they fine for me this, I’ve got enough money to pay.”
Gomez said he was upset because he was hit by a pitch during the at-bat, and the umpire blew the call. He was jeered in subsequent at-bats by the crowd of 7,572.
UP AND DOWN
After using nine pitchers Tuesday, the Rays called up right-hander Ryan Weber from Triple-A Durham as reinforcement. Weber (0-1) allowed two runs in five innings and was optioned after the game back to Durham.
”I knew I was coming up to get the team innings, and that’s what I did,” Weber said. ”I kept the pitch count low so they could keep running me back out there. That’s all I could have asked for.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rays: RHP Chris Archer (left abdominal strain) felt fine after a rehab start and could rejoin the rotation as early as Monday against the Tigers. … LHP Vidal Nuno (right hamstring strain), who earned the victory Tuesday and contributed two hits before he was hurt, went on the 10-day disabled list. … RH Wilmer Font (right lat strain) was transferred to the 60-day DL.
Marlins: OF Lewis Brinson (left hip inflammation), batting only .186, was placed on the 10-day disabled list. … 3B Martin Prado (left hamstring) and 1B-OF Garrett Cooper (bruised right wrist) are expected to be activated for the upcoming series at Washington. … Miami recalled LHP Dillon Peters from Triple-A New Orleans.
UP NEXT
Rays: Following a day off, the Rays play a three-game series at the Mets, with RHP Ryne Stanek (1-2, 1.98) expected to start.
Marlins: RHP Pablo Lopez (1-0, 3.00), who beat the Mets in his major league debut Saturday, is scheduled to start Thursday when Miami opens a four-game series at the Nationals.
Miami is 6-16 against Washington since the start of 2017.
”We’ve had our trouble with those guys,” manager Don Mattingly said. ”They’ve beat us up pretty good the last couple of years.”
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