Max Scherzer falls to 11-10 after disappointing road trip

After experiencing his shortest outing of the season, throwing just three innings in an 8-5 loss to the Giants last Friday night, Nationals ace Max Scherzer turned in extra work to fine-tune his mechanics prior to yesterday's outing in Colorado.

"I could tell in the (bullpen sessions) with all the work I've been doing in between starts to get that right," Scherzer told reporters. "I could tell that the ball was going to have the plane that I needed. There was times that I threw glove side fastballs that stayed true. They didn't leak back over the middle. Only a couple did. That's where it's a little inconsistent."

Scherzer still battled with his command early on, issuing two-out walks in the first and second innings before finishing off both frames. But the right-hander limited Colorado to just two hits until the fifth inning when Rockies starter Yohan Flande blooped a single into left field. Charlie Blackmon followed with another base hit and then Jose Reyes ripped a double down the right field line, plating Flande for the game's first run.

With one out, Scherzer intentionally walked Carlos Gonzalez to load the bases before striking out Nolan Arenado and Ben Paulsen to emphatically end the threat.

Matt McBride lined a single off Scherzer to center to start the sixth and advanced to third on a groundout and flyout. Flande then legged out a slow chopper, allowing McBride to race home for the Rockies' second run off Scherzer.

Michael A. Taylor evened the score for Scherzer and the Nats with a mammoth two-run homer to left-center off Flande in the seventh.

But after Reyes singled off Scherzer to start the bottom of the frame, manager Matt Williams went to the bullpen. Left-hander Felipe Rivero gave up a single to Gonzalez and right-hander Blake Treinen surrendered a two-out base knock to Paulsen, scoring Reyes for the eventual game-winning run.

"Just frustrating because I felt like it was good but it just wasn't good enough," Scherzer told reporters. "I made the adjustment ... definitely my arm slot was higher. I felt like it was on top of the ball. I really felt like my changeup was back. Really did some good things. They were just able to find a couple holes and sometimes that led to bigger innings."

Scherzer threw 103 pitches over six-plus innings, yielding three runs on eight hits, with three walks and seven strikeouts.

"There's a lot of stuff I can take away from this," Scherzer told reporters. "It really puts me in a good direction moving forward. When I can command a fastball like that ... even though I was a little wild with it. When you raise your arm action a little bit, you're gonna be just little inconsistent with your fastball. That's what I felt like it was (Thursday night). Overall, there was a lot of positives I can take away from this."

Arenado's fifth-inning strikeout made him Scherzer's 200th victim by the whiff this season. That's four straight years with at least 200 strikeouts for Scherzer. He also became the third pitcher in Nationals history to strike out 200-plus batters in a season, joining Gio Gonzalez (207, 2012) and Stephen Strasburg (242, 2014).

However, the Nats have won just three of Scherzer's last 10 starts as the right-hander falls to 11-10 on the year with a 2.79 ERA.