Scherzer's early troubles crop up again (Nats lose 4-3)

The first inning continues not to sit well with Max Scherzer, who once again tonight dug the Nationals into an early hole.

On the heels of a shaky start in Miami five days ago, Scherzer took the mound tonight at Nationals Park and two batters later found himself trailing by two runs. He walked Phillies leadoff man Odubel Herrera on four pitches, then served up a home run to Andres Blanco on an 0-1 fastball over the plate.

That's now eight first-inning runs surrendered by Scherzer in five starts this season, five of them coming in his last two starts alone.

Scherzer hasn't shown any obvious signs of injury; his velocity is just a slight tick below where it stood last season, and he cranked up one fastball to Peter Boujos tonight to 97 mph to strike out the Phillies' No. 9 hitter and leave a runner stranded in scoring position.

But the ace's less-than-expected performance to date has become cause for at least some concern. He entered this game with a 4.32 ERA and now has surrendered five homers in his first 28 innings pitched.

Scherzer did hold the Phillies scoreless in the second and third innings, keeping the game manageable and giving his teammates a chance to chip away at the lead. They followed suit, plating a run in the bottom of the second via Daniel Murphy's double, Vince Velasquez's wild pitch and Danny Espinosa's well-executed squeeze bunt.

Update: It hasn't been pretty, but Scherzer has muddled his way through five innings, giving up three runs on 97 pitches. He has put the leadoff man on four times in five innings, three times via walk. He gave up an RBI single to Cesar Hernandez in the fourth to left the Nats trailing 3-1. He needed a great double play by Anthony Rendon to avoid more damage in the fifth.

Scherzer's teammates, though, have picked him up. They've tied this game thanks to back-to-back, two-out RBI singles by Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman in the bottom of the fifth. Each guy went the other way to poke a line drive into empty space, bringing home a run. Just a nice display of patient, controlled hitting by these two pros.

So it's 3-3 after five, Scherzer is taking the mound for the sixth but there is stirring in the bullpen.

Update II: Oliver Perez was the unsung hero of Sunday's wild win. He's not in position to be that guy tonight, though, after giving up the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh. Perez served up back-to-back doubles to Blanco and Maikel Franco, the latter a shot off the wall in center field that Michael A. Taylor couldn't haul in.

The Nationals had a great opportunity to rally in the bottom of the seventh, but with two outs and a man on second, the Phillies took no chances and intentionally walked Harper for the second time tonight. That put it all on Zimmerman, who wound up striking out looking at a David Hernandez curveball on the inside corner.

So, the Nats trail 4-3 in the top of the eighth, and now Matt Belisle has departed with an apparent injury after facing only one batter. Not good.

Update III: Try as they might to mount another dramatic rally, the Nationals just didn't have one in them tonight. They lost the opener of this series, 4-3.

Needing at least one man to reach base in the ninth to get Harper to the plate one more time, they got what they needed: a two-out single from Rendon. That forced Jeanmar Gomez to pitch to Harper with the game on the line. And he went right after him, throwing six straight sinkers, with Harper fouling off four in a row, before finally going with a changeup on 2-2 and getting Harper reaching. He grounded out weakly to third base, and so this game ends in disappointing fashion for the Nats.