MILWAUKEE (AP) – Max Scherzer struck out a team-record 16 and threw a one-hitter, losing his perfect-game bid on a bloop single that barely fell in during the seventh inning Sunday while pitching the Washington Nationals over the Milwaukee Brewers 4-0.
Carlos Gomez got Milwaukee’s only hit, leading off the seventh with a broken-bat looper to right field just beyond the outstretched glove of second baseman Anthony Rendon. Scherzer looked the other away after the ball dropped.
After losing his last two starts, Scherzer (7-5) rebounded with the most overpowering game of his career, which includes a Cy Young Award, two All-Star selections and a lot of strikeouts.
Scherzer, in the first season of a $210 million, seven-year contract, threw his second complete game in his 211th career start. His other one was a three-hit shutout on June 12, 2014, for the Detroit Tigers against the Chicago White Sox.
Scherzer set a career high for strikeouts and broke the Nationals mark of 14 set by Stephen Strasburg in his big league debut in 2010. He walked one and finished the day with a 1.93 ERA.
The Brewers rarely hit the ball out of the infield. When they did, the 30-year-old righty mainly held hitters to harmless popouts.
Scherzer also hit a single in the fourth. Going into the seventh, he had reached base more than the Brewers.
The Nationals scored two runs off rookie Taylor Jungmann (1-1), who labored through five innings in his second career start. Clint Robinson added a two-run double with two outs in the seventh off Jeremy Jeffress.
Washington salvaged a split of a four-game series with last-place Milwaukee even with slugger Bryce Harper watching from the dugout. He got the day off after being hit by a fastball on his left leg in Saturday’s 7-2 win over the Brewers.
Scooter Gennett worked a full-count walk with one out in the eighth, about the closest that Scherzer came to showing any semblance of struggling.
Scherzer came back to strike out Hector Gomez and Martin Maldonado swinging, the second whiff coming on a 96 mph fastball.
Scherzer caught Jason Rogers and Gomez with off-speed pitches for two more strikeouts in the ninth.
Jungmann allowed seven hits, walked two and struck out five.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Nationals: 2B Danny Espinosa stayed in the game after appearing to hurt his right foot on a slide while being thrown out by catcher Martin Maldonado trying to steal second to end the top of the third.
Brewers: Veterans 3B Aramis Ramirez and C Jonathan Lucroy got regular days off from the starting lineup.
UP NEXT
Nationals: Washington opens a home-and-home series against the Rays with two games at Tampa Bay. LHP Gio Gonzalez (4-3) won his only career start against the Rays while with Washington, a 5-2 win at Nationals Park on June 21, 2012.
Brewers: Kyle Lohse (3-7) takes the mound for the start of a home-and-home, four-game series against Kansas City. The right-hander last won when the Brewers beat the Mets 7-0 on May 15, going winless in his next five starts.
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