Ross starts in place of Scherzer, who hopes to return (updated)

A Nationals team that already has seen its two-game lead in the World Series disappear over the last two nights now must take the field for a critical Game 5 tonight against the Astros without its three-time Cy Young Award winner on the mound.

Max Scherzer was scratched from his scheduled start tonight due to what he described as nerve irritation in his neck that has caused his muscles to "completely lock up," leaving Joe Ross to take the mound against Houston's fearsome lineup and Cy Young Award contender Gerrit Cole in a game that will leave one of these two teams one win away from a World Series title.

"I'm as disappointed as I possibly could be to not be able to pitch tonight," Scherzer said during an unexpected press conference about two hours before tonight's game, clearly unable to move and turn his neck in a normal fashion. "It's Game 5 of the World Series. I've pitched through so much crap in my career before that would be easy to pitch through at this point. This is literally impossible to do anything with."

Scherzer said he first began experiencing discomfort "a couple days ago" and began getting treatment for it. He tried to play catch Saturday, but struggled to do so. And when he woke up this morning, "I was completely locked up," unable to get out of bed or get dressed in a normal fashion.

"If you all know Max, obviously he pitched with a broken nose (earlier this season)," manager Davey Martinez said after making the surprising announcement shortly after 4:30 p.m. "He's been hurt before. He's gotten through things. When he comes in and says he's hurt this bad, he's hurt."

Scherzer remained hopeful he'd be able to pitch tonight but informed the club and texted Ross early this afternoon that he wouldn't be able to do it.

The 35-year-old made only one start during a seven-week stretch in July and August due to a pair of mid-back strains. He insisted this isn't connected to those ailments, which were in a different location.

Scherzer likened this to the neck ailment that knocked him out of an Aug. 2017 start in Miami after one inning, then prevented him from making a start in San Diego two weeks later. He wound up missing 10 days before returning to the mound.

Scherzer described this injury as "the most severe one." He received a cortisone injection today, the effects of which aren't likely to take full effect for at least 48 hours. That creates a very tight timeline for him to be ready to pitch a potential decisive Game 7 on Wednesday night.

"This is just a little thing that turned into a big thing that turned into a giant thing," he said.

Clearly, though, both pitcher and manager knew going into Game 4 that his status for Game 5 was uncertain. Which helps explain some of Martinez's bullpen decisions during the course of a game that saw Tanner Rainey and Fernando Rodney give up four runs during the top of the seventh to turn a close game into an 8-1 rout. Top relievers Sean Doolittle and Daniel Hudson never pitched, ostensibly because the Nationals faced a three-run deficit but also so they'd be available for multi-inning usage tonight.

"Yesterday I didn't use Joe and some of the other guys in preparation, in case this would have happened," Martinez said. "And hoping that (Scherzer would) wake up today and felt a lot better. He didn't."

Scherzer has pitched in five games this postseason, four of them starts, and is 3-0 with a 2.16 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 25 innings. The Nationals are 5-0 when he has appeared in a game this month.

The Nationals are hopeful Scherzer will still pitch before this series is over. Martinez said at this point he intends to keep Stephen Strasburg on scheduled to start Game 6 on Tuesday at Minute Maid Park, with Scherzer potentially available out of the bullpen if the proper situation arose. If the series goes to a seventh game Wednesday, Scherzer would start if healthy, with Aníbal Sánchez also available on full rest.

"Hopefully within the next 24 hours, as he starts getting better, we start seeing signs of him getting better," Martinez said. "And then we'll go from there."

The spotlight suddenly shifts right onto Ross, the 26-year-old right-hander who was left off the Nationals' roster for the wild card game, the National League Division Series and the NL Championship Series but was added to the World Series roster in place of rookie Austin Voth, who never pitched out of the bullpen during the first three rounds.

The move seemed a bit odd at the time, because Ross struggled mightily as a reliever this season, posting an 11.17 ERA in 18 appearances. But in nine starts, Ross excelled, going 4-2 with a 3.02 ERA. He got a taste of World Series action Friday night, with two scoreless innings on 19 pitches.

"He's got good stuff, and he got his feet wet the other night, so that'll help him," general manager Mike Rizzo said. "To make an emergency start in Game 5 of the World Series against the Houston Astros, he'll have to control his emotions ... and just follow the gameplan and see what happens."

Scherzer, meanwhile, will only be able to watch from the dugout and hope he gets another chance to pitch before the season ends later this week.

"I can tell you now he's very upset," Martinez said. "He wants to be out there with his teammates. But hopefully we can get him back here for either Game 6 or 7."