Scherzer believes scaling back a bit now will pay dividends in October

Facing the Orioles, Nationals right-hander Max Scherzer threw 89 pitches in his second start since returning from the injured list. It was a step forward from the 71 pitches he threw Aug. 22 at Pittsburgh. Scherzer got into the fifth inning of the Nationals' 8-4 win over the Orioles.

"A little better," Scherzer said of his start. "Still trying to be under control. Really focused about making it through kind of five innings, trying to get up for a fifth inning tonight, and recover and see where I'm at. Hopefully, if I can recover well, hopefully next time out then that's when we can try and turn up the intensity on all the pitches."

With one out in the fifth inning and the Nats up 5-2, Scherzer did not put up a fight when manager Davey Martinez came out and asked for the ball.

Scherzer had allowed a solo homer to begin the frame and the Orioles had put together two more singles. That is an important moment. Usually, Scherzer wants to fight through every obstacle and is not concerned about his pitch count. But these last two starts, he's needed to be careful as he eyes potential starts in October.

"We're at the point in the season where there's no room for error," Scherzer 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."

Scherzer has already been on the injured list twice this season, missing 36 games - or potentially five or six starts. He is now determined to not let his back get to a point where he has to go on the IL in mid-September.

"Moving forward, we need Max to be Max," said Nationals manager Davey Martinez. "And he understands that. With that being said, we're at a pivotal point with him right now. We've got to be really careful and we've got to listen to doctors and we've got to listen to him and we've got to listen to trainers. I've got to be smart. You can look at him and say: 'You know what? He's OK. He looks good.' But we have to stick to the plan."

Scherzer scattered six hits over 4 1/3 innings, allowing two runs and walk, with eight strikeouts. The right-hander knows he must be careful. Similar to what Stephen Strasburg has been able to do, Scherzer has crafted different ways of getting hitters out instead of trying to outdo a batter's power.

"I know what's at stake," Scherzer said. "I know I need to get my back right, learn how to pitch a little throttled down, this might make me a better pitcher later. Being able to get guys out with location instead of having the ability to just rear back and just try to blow somebody away. I mean, that works. Don't get me wrong. But when I have to hit spots and really locate off-speed pitches the way I want to, it forces me to be a little bit better."

And with more strikeouts come more milestones. Scherzer now has reached 200 strikeouts for the eighth consecutive season. That is second all-time to Tom Seaver's nine consecutive seasons of 200 or more strikeouts from 1968-1976.

But the bottom line for Scherzer right now, and similarly for injured closer Sean Doolittle, is how he feels the next day after an outing. That's the biggest unknown for him right now. How will he feel on the off day following a start?

"Don't know. Honestly, I don't know," Scherzer said. "That's been the hardest thing about this whole thing. I can go out there, go back and throw hard, and the next day I'm suffering.

"For me, it's always been about the next day. That's where I'm going to see how I feel tomorrow. Hopefully, tonight was a good night. I can recover from tonight. Hopefully, this time on my turn and get back on my normal routine of everything. So we'll see."