Martinez on Scherzer, Zimmerman, Voth and more (Nats win 6-0)

Nationals manager Davey Martinez made sure to check that Max Scherzer was good to go after a busy week with his wife Erica giving birth to a baby girl Kacey Hart on Thursday.

Usually, a new baby in the family is the only big deal for a week in the life of any proud Dad.

It's all in the normal work and life for Scherzer, who makes his 19th start of the season today against Kansas City.

He has gone 6-0 in the last month with a 1.00 ERA, being named National League Pitcher of the Month. He suffered a broken nose and two black eyes, couple that with the joy of becoming a father again and heading to Cleveland Sunday night for the All-Star Game. All normal for the whirlwind that is Scherzer.

"Nothing else could surprise me with him," Martinez said. "He's well prepared for today. I know he got his work in even though they had the baby. Got his works out in, did his thing. Last night he said he's ready to go. I know he's excited to pitch."

Martinez said following today's appearance, the Nats will push Scherzer's next start back to July 14 at Philadelphia. That will give him eight days between starts, plus the inning he might throw in Cleveland, on Tuesday night.

"Right now he's not scheduled to pitch until Sunday after the break," Martinez said. "He gets a little time off."

First baseman Ryan Zimmerman gets the day off today in game two against the Royals. Matt Adams will start against Kansas City right-hander Glenn Sparkman.

"He says he's normally sore," Martinez said. "He ran a lot yesterday and it was hot. I think by the end there, it got to him a little bit."

Right-hander Austin Voth has been optioned to get Scherzer back from paternity leave. Voth will head to the minors to get a start under his belt and then Martinez believes they will set him to start one of the two games against the Orioles July 16-17.

"He's not going to pitch for a while," said Martinez. "We want him to go down and get his work in, make sure he is ready. We definitely talked about that. He'll make a start on his fifth day. That will put him back sometime after the break like Baltimore or something like that."

Right-handed reliever Kyle Barraclough was back in the clubhouse from Florida. He has been on the injured list since June 16 with a right radial nerve irritation.

"He's throwing. He's coming in (to work)," Martinez said. "He was going to throw a side here and we will see where he's at but he's throwing well. We want him to continue, I think he's got three or four more outings before we make a decision. He's going to go pitch somewhere, but we haven't decided where."

Right-hander Justin Miller (right rotator cuff strain, May 18) has been pitching in West Palm Beach. Martinez said the pair had been working out together until Barraclough came north this weekend.

"He's still pitching, building up innings," Martinez updated. "Also, he's pitching well. Just about getting him back out there. It's really spring training all over again for them. We want to make sure they both have enough innings before they come back and they're ready to go."

There were a lot of interesting moves made during the 11-inning, four-hour, 40-minute matchup against the Royals Friday night. In the end, Martinez was forced to use Stephen Strasburg as a pinch-hitter in the 10th inning for the first time in his career. But a day later, Martinez wasn't second guessing his on-field moves.

"I think the way it worked out and where we were at in that spot, we had multiple chances to win the game," Martinez said. "When you get down to it, we had chances to win the game: the ninth, the 10th, the eighth. When you leave 19 runners on base it's pretty tough. I woke up this morning. That game is behind us. Ready to go today."

Update: Scherzer has allowed a base hit in each inning, but no runs, through three frames. Kurt Suzuki smacked a two-run shot in a three-run second inning, his 11th homer of the year, coming off of Sparkman. Juan Soto had an RBI single from the first inning.

The Nats lead the Royals 4-0.

Update II: Scherzer finished seven shutout innings, allowing four hits and one walk with 11 strikeouts. He threw 103 pitches, 75 for strikes. It's the ninth time this season Scherzer has recorded 10 or more strikeouts, and fifth time in a row.

In the seventh, the Nats scored two more runs. Anthony Rendon with a sacrifice fly to left field to score pinch-hitter Gerardo Parra and Soto hit an RBI single to plate Adam Eaton.

After seven innings, the Nats lead the Royals 6-0.

Update III: Matt Grace allowed a base hit but nothing else to retire the Royals in the ninth.

Final score: Nats 6, Royals 0. Scherzer is 9-5. He has won seven games in a row.