Controversial call costs Scherzer, Nationals

Max Scherzer pitched brilliantly once again only to take the loss on a controversial call that resulted in a 2-1 walk-off win for the Braves in the bottom of the ninth.

Nationals manager Matt Williams sent Scherzer back out for the ninth after throwing only 97 pitches through the first eight frames. Braves skipper Fredi Gonzalez countered with pinch-hitter Pedro Ciriaco, who beat out a bouncing ball to Danny Espinosa for a leadoff single.

Ciriaco quickly advanced to second on Jace Peterson's sacrifice bunt bringing Cameron Maybin to the plate. Scherzer jumped ahead on Maybin 0-2 and then went to his strikeout slider. Maybin laid off the first that ended in the dirt and then chopped the second down the third base line. Yunel Escobar jumped, but the ball flew over the reach of his glove, heading directly toward third base umpire C.B. Bucknor.

Bucknor appeared to turn his head while scurrying out of the way. Still he ruled that the ball sailed over the bag fair allowing Ciriaco to race home for the game-winning run.

Escobar was furious with the call, immediately waving his arms to signal foul ball. Williams hurried to Bucknor and home plate umpire Dan Iassogna looking for an explanation.

"They both got it fair," Williams said to reporters after the game. "There's no angle for us to review it. It's a non-reviewable play anyway. Once it bounces before the umpire fair or foul, it's non-reviewable. I asked them. They said, 'We both got it fair.' One of those unfortunate bounces for us."

Scherzer was left standing in disbelief. In another dominating performance, the right-hander had allowed just one run on three hits with nine strikeouts before the unlucky breaks in the ninth.

"It just sucks," Scherzer told reporters. "The way you lose like that on an infield single with Ciriaco being able to beat it out and then a ball that chops right over the third baseman. What are you gonna be mad about? I feel like I executed my pitches in those situations. They just got hits. Baseball's a funny game sometimes."

It's the fifth time in Scherzer's 16 starts that the Nationals have scored one run or less. Scherzer has taken the loss in all five outings despite only yielding nine earned runs combined.

It was Braves rookie Manny Banuelos who fooled the Nationals for much of the night in his major league debut. The left-hander gave up two hits while striking out seven before leaving after 5 2/3 innings with fatigue.

"We hadn't seen him," Williams said to reporters about Banuelos. "Swinging at good pitches is important. And he was (keeping the ball) down. Changeup were off the plate. Surprise fastballs."

Bryce Harper suffered his first three-strikeout game since April 14. But in the seventh, Harper drilled a ball to center that Maybin just missed catching. After the double, Harper evened the game when Wilson Ramos knocked a bouncing ball into right field.

But that was all the offense the Nationals could muster. They drop the series after combining for just two runs on nine hits over the last two losses.