Scherzer says he could have done better, thumb is OK

Nationals right-hander Max Scherzer went seven innings and allowed only six hits, but suffered his second loss in three decisions in a 4-1 setback to the Cardinals on Thursday.

In the first and sixth innings, St. Louis plated single runs against Scherzer.

Matt Carpenter led off the game with a double and Jason Heyward quickly followed with a single. Later, Scherzer uncorked a wild pitch with Matt Adams at the plate, and the Cardinals had the lead 1-0.

"I thought he pitched well. The first inning, the leadoff double and then a bloop and he had a chance to get out of the inning," said manager Matt Williams. "Pulled a slider a little bit. Other than that, I thought he pitched well. He ran into trouble with two outs there in the sixth inning. Then gave up a base hit with a guy in scoring position."

"I didn't expect Carpenter to come out swinging first pitch of the game. But credit to him, he put the ball in play," Scherzer said. "And then I had a feeling once he swung, once he was aggressive, Heyward was going to be aggressive. I put a good pitch and Heyward just found some grass out there. Credit to him for being able to get that ball in there."

The Nationals tied the game in the fifth on a run-scoring single by Denard Span. But in the sixth inning, the Cardinals took the lead back on a base hit by Matt Adams.

"I was cruising there through six and then got the first two outs in the seventh," Scherzer said. "Made a mistake and left the ball over the plate against (Jason) Heyward, he was able to get a hit. Obviously, ran one in there and hit (Matt) Holliday. Then Adams, fastball away, put a good swing on it and was able to get that run in. That's kind of the difference in the game."

After seven and with the team down 2-1, Williams decided to pinch-hit for Scherzer. Part of the reason was Scherzer jamming his thumb when he reached base in the fifth.

"He could've gone further. When he hit that baseball, it jammed him just a touch," Williams said. "He felt it in his right hand. He gutted through it.

"He came in and said, 'I'm not where I want to be. I'm not controlling my pitches the way I want to control them'. That being said, we decided to go with a hitter there anyway. As it ended up, it didn't matter. But nonetheless he wasn't comfortable out there pitching, so if you're not comfortable out there pitching, there's no reason for him to hit there."

Scherzer said not having that much experience hitting because it is his first season in the National League might have played a part in trying to get used to an uncomfortable response to getting his thumb dinged the fifth inning. But he believes it will not be something that will linger.

"I haven't been hitting a lot," Scherzer said. "I jammed my thumb a little bit. It shouldn't be too serious. Look forward to getting back out there and pitch my next start. "

Scherzer learns from every game, win or lose. But losing two of his first four starts is a different feeling for the former Cy Young Award winner.

"Obviously, when you lose a couple of games on a run, you always go back and rethink how you would've handled yourself in different situations," Scherzer said. "Even though I felt like a threw the ball well today, there's definitely things I rethink of how I would've done things differently."

So what would he change from this start?

"How I handled Heyward in the seventh," Scherzer said. "Once he took that 0-0 fastball, maybe I should've gone with an off-speed pitch in that situation. It's stuff like that you try to rehash over yourself and try to find ways to get better. Even when you do things right, there are always way to improve upon your game."

"Overall, felt good, felt good with my pitches," Scherzer concluded. "I know they're aggressive. I was able to get some quick outs. Didn't walk anybody. That was my first time pitching with Loby (Jose Lobaton) and Loby did a good job behind the plate today. Overall, I feel like I did pretty well. Kept us in the game for the most part. But there's obviously things I wish I could've done better."