Lineup returns to form, Scherzer builds up arm in win (updated)

If you were wondering how long it would take the Nationals to brush aside Tuesday night's surprising shutout loss to the Orioles and get themselves back on track, the answer was: six batters into the bottom of the first inning tonight.

That's all it took - six batters - for the Nationals to recapture the form they lost 24 hours earlier and storm out to a quick five-run lead. They still had plenty of work to do before they wrapped up an 8-4 victory over Baltimore, but the tone was set early and the message was clear: Tuesday night was the anomaly.

This is the norm for these Nationals, whose lineup has been scoring runs in bunches way more regularly than it has been shut down by the opposition over the last few weeks.

"Baseball is weird, man," said Kurt Suzuki, who drove in two of those first-inning runs with a homer. "Their guy last night pitched well, moved the ball around, mixed it up. Today, we just wanted to come out and set the tone early. Nice to put some runs across with Max on the mound again."

Max Scherzer was indeed on the mound tonight, but he still isn't quite Max Scherzer yet. And so those extra runs came in handy.

The staff ace was better in his second start off the injured list than in his return last week in Pittsburgh, but as he has been saying all along, he's still got a ways to go.

Scherzer struck out eight over 4 1/3 innings, reaching the 200-strikeout mark for the eighth consecutive season. But he's still refining his command, and he's still building up endurance after missing the better part of six weeks with an upper back ailment. And so he was pulled before he could qualify for the win, his pitch count at 89.

"He gave us what he had," manager Davey Martinez said. "I thought towards the end he was getting a little tired. But that's just part of building him back up."

Scherzer didn't even put up a fight when Martinez strolled to the mound and asked for the ball. He knows he's not in late-August form yet. He's still essentially in late-March form.

"We're at the point in the season where there's no room for error," he said. "I cannot get hurt. So I understand that. That's why I'm going out there pitching under control. I'm not going to put my body in jeopardy. If I give up runs, so what? I'm more focused on going out there and pitching, making my starts, throwing my pitches and recovering. That's the No. 1 thing."

The good news is that Scherzer appears to be healthy. His fastball velocity - averaging 94 mph, topping out at 96 mph - was fine. His off-speed pitches were effective. He was able to strike out a pair of batters in each of his four full innings, and in doing so cracked the 200-strikeout mark for the eighth consecutive year, one behind Tom Seaver's all-time record.

Scherzer's early departure, though, put some added strain on a Nationals bullpen that for at least one last night was without Hunter Strickland (paternity leave), Sean Doolittle and Roenis Elías ( both on injured list). At least two, if not all three, should be back for this weekend's series against the Marlins, but in the meantime, Martinez had to piece together tonight's final 4 2/3 innings with what he had.

That meant Wander Suero to close out the fifth (via a nifty double play started by Anthony Rendon), then Tanner Rainey to pitch the sixth (with Chris Davis launching a two-run homer off a 100 mph fastball), Javy Guerra to pitch the seventh, Fernando Rodney to pitch the eighth and Daniel Hudson to finish it off in the ninth.

All of this came after the Nationals opened up a healthy lead with a fast and furious rally in the bottom of the first against Asher Wojciechowski, who retired leadoff man Trea Turner, then allowed six consecutive batters to reach base.

The first to reach was Adam Eaton, but it came at a price. Though Eaton was able to trot down to first base after getting hit by a pitch just below the right knee, he could barely run from first to third on Rendon's subsequent double to the gap. After a brief visit from Martinez and director of athletic training Paul Lessard, Eaton walked off the field under his own power, replaced by Gerardo Parra.

X-rays taken on Eaton's knee were negative, but he's still sore and is looking forward to the Nationals' day off before they return Friday for the opener of a weekend series with the Marlins.

"It was literally the worst spot," he said. "If it's lower, it gets more meat. If it's higher, hits me in my knee. That's fine, doesn't hurt. Kind of the worst spot to hit me. But I'll be fine. Tomorrow's an off-day."

While their starting right fielder was getting checked on in the clubhouse, the rest of the Nationals got down to business. Juan Soto drilled a two-run triple off the center field wall. Asdrúbal Cabrera singled home another run past a drawn-in infield. And Suzuki launched a two-run homer deep into the left field stands to cap the five-run rally.

The Nationals then tacked on three more runs in the fifth, getting four straight hits off lefty Richard Bleier, including a two-run double from Suzuki to cap a four RBI night for the veteran catcher and remind everyone that this lineup really does score runs in bunches almost every night.

"This is about attacking early in a game, scoring first," Martinez said. "That's been our message. They come out today, and I mean, that first inning was good, really good."