Max Scherzer "speechless" after joining elite company with second no-hitter this season

FLUSHING, N.Y. - For much of the night, Max Scherzer faced a lineup filled with Mets reserves. But in the ninth inning of a 2-0 game, New York manager Terry Collins sent his heavy hitters - Yoenis Cespedes, Lucas Duda and Curtis Granderson - to the plate and Scherzer responded.

"That's where I had to check myself," Scherzer recalled. "'Hey, stay within yourself. Don't let the intensity, the moment get too big. Just do what you do. You know these hitters. You know what you want to execute to them. Go out there and throw the right pitch and the right sequence and the right situation.' I trusted (Wilson Ramos). There were times where I just didn't try to rear back and try to throw as hard as I can and make a mistake. That's what I'm proud about is facing the best hitters in that situation and executing pitches when I needed to."

Cespedes led off the frame with Scherzer blowing a 96 mph fastball by him for his 16th strikeout. Lucas Duda, a Nats killer this year, was next to sit down after swinging through another 96 mph heater. That was the final swing and miss Scherzer induced on a night where he had a whopping 27.

Scherzer's final pitch of the historic night was a 96 mph fastball again. This time Curtis Granderson popped it up to Yunel Escobar who secured the final out of Scherzer's second no-hitter of the season.

"It was like as soon as he catches it, go to Willie and let's do our handshake," Scherzer said grinning. "We got our little handshake before we do every game and do it any time you get a complete game, do it with Willie."

A throwing error from Escobar after fielding a routine grounder off the bat of Kevin Plawecki to start the sixth was the only blemish which prevented Scherzer from tossing a perfect game. Escobar one-hopped his throw to Clint Robinson who wasn't able to scoop the ball, allowing Plawecki to reach safely.

"I had my back turned there so I didn't see what happened," Scherzer said. "I just saw it short-hopped him. Just a play that didn't get made. Yuni goes out there and competes as hard as anybody. I'm sure he doesn't feel great about it. Look, we're major leaguers, especially him. He competes. He battles through injuries, I have nothing but the utmost respect for him. A play just didn't get made."

Scherzer's approach and repertoire was as close to perfection as possible. He only reached a three-ball count twice in the gem. After whiffing Plawecki on a full count leading off the third, Scherzer didn't allow the count to reach three balls for the final 21 hitters in the game. He became the first pitcher in the storied history of the game to throw a no-hitter with the 17 strikeouts and no walks.

"If you want to be a dominant pitcher you look at what you can control," Scherzer said. "Tonight, when you're able to go out there and punch guys out and not walk anybody, that's what you have control over. And that's what I'm proud about is going out there and attacking the zone. Using all my pitches. Dropping in curveballs. That type of stuff is what I pride myself on is being aggressive with the hitters and finding ways to throw swing and miss pitches with two strikes. When you break it down from that angle, that's what I'm most proud of."

Scherzer's 17 strikeouts were a personal career-high and a Nationals single game record passing the mark of 16 which he set in his one-hit shutout in Milwaukee on June 14.

Scherzer joined Roy Halladay (2010), Nolan Ryan (1973), Virgil Trucks (1952), Allie Reynolds (1951) and Johnny Vander Meer (1938) in throwing two no-hitters within a season. (Halladay's second came in the Division Series.) Ryan also struck out 17 in one of his no-hitters in 1973.

"Speechless," Scherzer said. "You mention that. You go out there and try to accomplish as much as you can, have as much success as you can, but when you start talking about that stuff, you don't even have words for it."

Scherzer's 104 Game Score is the second best in history, just a point behind Kerry Wood's top mark from his one-hit 20-strikeouts performance in 1998.

"It's tough to say when it was possible," Scherzer said thinking back to when he knew he might have something special. "When you go through the order one time through, you know you got something going. When you go through the order two times, you know you got a real shot. So that's my threshold of when you know you have something going. After you get through six, you know you have a shot. I know if you can get through seven, you can really empty the tanks in eight and give it everything you got in the ninth.

"Once I was able to get through the seventh, I thought here we go, we got a real shot at this. I was able to get some strikeouts there and in the ninth, those are battles. Those are really good hitters they pinch-hit with in Cespedes and Duda. They've given me trouble all along, so to be able to get those two guys out and then Granderson, he's really a tough out, he's done a really good job against me throughout his whole career. We've faced each other a lot. Fortunately, I was able to get him to pop up and that was special."

Scherzer outdueled Mets ace Matt Harvey tonight also. Harvey struck out 11 through six inning, only yielding one unearned run but taking the loss.

"When you go into a start, you know who you're facing," Scherzer said, "You know you have to bring your A game. Matt Harvey is a great pitcher. You know he's gonna throw the ball tremendous. He even did tonight too. He punched out a bunch of guys too. From that standpoint, you just gotta match him. It's almost like playing a game of horse. He makes a shot, you gotta make a shot. For me, that's what I felt like tonight that if I can just go out there and keep executing pitches, I'm gonna give my best effort to try and match him."

When Scherzer reached the Nationals clubhouse, his teammates were waiting with a raucous celebration.

"I think I tasted some chocolate sauce," Scherzer said laughing. "I just know I had a ton of beer ... There was a huge beer shower in the clubhouse. It was freezing cold. Somewhere I think there was chocolate sauce. It was too cold to really know."