Scherzer ready to move on after 5-0 loss to Reds: "I've had stinkers before"

Nationals fans haven't seen Max Scherzer pitch less than six innings this season. But Tuesday, Scherzer tossed a season-low 4 2/3 innings in a 5-0 loss to the Reds.

Scherzer allowed five runs on seven hits. Reds first baseman Joey Votto did most of the damage with three hits off of Scherzer and three RBIs, highlighted by a solo homer and a run-scoring double.

"I just didn't have it today," Scherzer said. "I just missed my location on a few pitches to the wrong hitters and they made me pay for it. They're a great team. They got great hitters. When you have a game like today, they make you pay for it. But at the end of the day, this is not one of these games where you beat yourself up. You don't have it. When you think you have it, you don't make pitches that's when you start throwing chairs, but this is not one of them."

His manager Matt Williams agreed it was just an off night for his ace. And it happened on a night when the Nationals offense was without two starters due to injury in Denard Span (back spasms) and Yunel Escobar (left hamstring tightness). The fact that those two hitters normally ignite the top of the lineup left Scherzer with little margin for error against the Reds top hurler Johnny Cueto.

"I just don't think it was his night tonight," Williams said. "First inning got him a little bit. Left some balls in the middle of the plate. It wasn't his night tonight. He's had his nights a lot lately, but tonight wasn't."

The Reds scored all their runs in the innings when Votto had at-bats in the first, third and fifth frames. He had a double, a homer and a single to help lift the Reds offense to a 5-0 lead.

"I just left fastballs over the plate for him," Scherzer said. "First AB, it was a fastball, it was away but it was up. He's a good enough hitter, he was sitting on it, he was able to turn on it. Home run pitch felt like it was right down the middle. He's good enough he's going to smash hit. Changeup, he was probably sitting on it. Just had enough of the plate, where he was able to get barrel to it, that's how he gets three hits."

Scherzer has too much experience to take this setback as a signal that something is wrong. He said he will quickly turn the page on this clunker.

"It happens, you just move on," Scherzer said. "If it happens again next start where I don't feel like I have location where I can execute pitches, then yeah, then I'll start critiquing it and trying to figure out why. I just think it was just one of those days where you go out there and you're not very good.

"Guys, I've had stinkers before. This is part of the deal, part of the gig. I don't get fazed by them anymore. I still feel like I'm throwing the ball well overall. This isn't going to determine (anything) any which way going forward."

First baseman Clint Robinson said you shouldn't expect zero hits and zero runs every start from Scherzer even though some fans might have felt like they had a superhero on the mound for them every fifth day.

"Max is a human being still," Robinson said. "There's still a reason he goes out there and competes. Sometimes these things happen. That's how the game goes. Sometimes you miss a little bit. Give them credit. When he did make a mistake they capitalized on it. He's been so good this year that sometimes it just happens. I'm sure he's just going to move on and flush this one out, and next time out, I don't expect anything but him to do what he's done all year."

Shortstop Ian Desmond, who had a triple off of Cueto, was charged up when listening to Scherzer campaign to Williams about staying in and looking to pitch out of a rocky fifth inning.

"We all know pitchers give up runs," Desmond said. "No ones ever finished the year with 0.00 ERA, (a) starter. But the fact that skip comes out to get him and he says 'man, I want to stay in this one'. That's the guy that you want. That's the guy you want holding the ball.

"The numbers might not have been there like I said, but a lot of good stuff happened like that. That's the first time we've seen Max deal with diversity and he handled it like a boss. He said I want to stay in here and obviously understood why skip wanted to get him out of the game. Just cool to see stuff like that."