Nationals right-hander Max Scherzer named National League Pitcher of the Month

Following six dominant starts in the month of May, Nationals right-hander Max Scherzer was named the National League Pitcher of the Month on Wednesday. Major League Baseball made the announcement.

Scherzer went 5-1 with a 1.67 ERA during the month of May - the best record and lowest ERA among National League starters who threw at least 40.0 innings last month.

Throwing at least seven innings in each of his six May starts, Scherzer tied a Nationals record (2005-present) with eight consecutive starts (dating to April 17) of at least seven innings of work. He matched Livan Hernandez's stretch of eight straight from June 20-July 31, 2005. Scherzer and Phillies left-hander Cole Hamels were the only National League pitchers to throw 43.0 innings or more in May.

After a loss to open the month (4-0 at NYM), Scherzer picked up the win in five consecutive starts and held his opponent to one run or fewer in four of those five outings. He closed the month with a flourish, topping the Chicago Cubs on May 27 at Wrigley Field, 3-0, with seven shutout innings and 13 strikeouts.

Scherzer, who struck out 10 or more batters in four of his six starts last month, posted 56 strikeouts and just six walks in May, a 9.33 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and struck out 11.72 batters per nine innings of work. He held opponents to a .208 batting average and a miniscule 0.91 WHIP.

On the season, Scherzer ranks among major league leaders in the following categories: ERA (3rd/1st in NL, 1.85), strikeouts (T3rd, 90), innings pitched (2nd/1st in NL, 77.2), opponents' batting average (8th, .202), strikeouts per nine innings (8th, 10.43) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (4th, 7.50)

The Nationals' right-hander joins right fielder Bryce Harper in a clean sweep of the National League Player and Pitcher of the Month awards for Washington. This is the first time in Nationals history (2005-present) that the team has claimed both awards in the same month. Harper and Scherzer are also the first pair of NL teammates to win Player and Pitcher of the Month in the same month since Milwaukee's Ryan Braun and CC Sabathia (July, 2008).

Scherzer and Harper are the sixth and seventh Nationals players to earn the monthly honors, joining Chad Cordero (June, 2005), Stephen Strasburg (April, 2012), Gio Gonzalez (May, 2012), Jordan Zimmermann (July, 2012) and Jayson Werth (July 2013, July 2014).