Scherzer in trouble after walks, grand slam (Nats lose 6-2)

Home runs have been Max Scherzer's biggest bugaboo since late last summer. Walks? Not so much.

But add a bunch of free passes to yet another bomb surrendered by Scherzer, and the Nationals ace really finds himself in trouble.

The Cardinals pounced on Scherzer during a five-run top of the third tonight, the big blast coming via Stephen Piscotty's first career grand slam, taking control of this Friday matchup on South Capitol Street.

The home run - the 15th Scherzer has surrendered in 69 1/3 innings - was game-changing, but the four walks that preceded it were more surprising and helped make it all possible.

Scherzer opened the game by walking Greg Garcia. He then walked Brandon Moss on four pitches to open his second inning. By the time the top of the third rolled around, he had added another walk of Garcia (this one after getting ahead in the count 0-2) and then one of Matt Holliday with the bases loaded to force in the evening's first run.

Perhaps now going out of his way to make sure he kept the ball in the zone, Scherzer then grooved an 0-1 slider to Piscotty and spun around to watch the ball sail over the left field fence, the crowd stunned by the turn of events.

Scherzer has now surrendered 34 percent of the Nationals' home runs this season despite throwing only 16 percent of their total innings.

Update: The Nationals are trying to claw their way back into this one. Danny Espinosa homered in the fifth (his second in as many nights). And they added another run in the sixth after singles by Bryce Harper and Daniel Murphy and then a 107-mph laser to third base by Ryan Zimmerman that turned into a 5-4-3 double play. So it's 5-2 Cardinals after six, with Scherzer having retired 11 straight since the Piscotty grand slam.

Update II: Make it 6-2 Cards in the eighth after Greg Garcia (doing his best Pete Kozma impression) homered off Yusmeiro Petit. Garcia has reached base in 5-of-6 plate appearances so far in this series.

Update III: That's a final. Nats lose 6-2. It was the five-run third vs. Scherzer that proved the difference. Back at it tomorrow night, with Gio Gonzalez facing Adam Wainwright.