Scherzer shakes off early command issues, rolls to another 10-K win

NEW YORK - Max Scherzer continued his almost unbeatable consistency tonight with eight strong innings in a 7-2 victory over the Mets at Citi Field.

Scherzer allowed only a late solo homer from José Reyes and three other hits, striking out 10 for the fifth consecutive start to improve to 8-4.

Scherzer reached a season-high 118 pitches, 84 for strikes, and benefited from a career-high-tying three groundball double plays to erase big scoring opportunities for the Mets.

The Nationals opened the scoring with back-to-back homers by Matt Wieters and Michael A. Taylor in the third. Anthony Rendon smacked a two-run shot in the sixth and the Nats added three insurance runs in the ninth for more than enough offense to lift Scherzer.

The Nats are now 5-0 against the Mets at Citi Field after the Friday win, 12-5 on the road against the National League East, extending their lead to 10 games over the Marlins.

Scherzer got into some trouble early when his changeup and slider were a bit off. He hit two batters and walked another in the first two frames. But the first of three double plays, a 5-4-3 twin killing, shut down the Mets' chances for a huge inning in the second.

Manager Dusty Baker spoke on the early hit-by-pitches that opened the door for the Mets.

"One was a changeup and one was a slider that didn't slide," Baker said. "Any time you are throwing a projectile, you can't throw always where you want to throw it. Sometimes it doesn't come out of your hand right. Sometimes your rhythm is off in your delivery. Whatever it was, he found it very quickly."

After that, he scattered three hits for the next five innings. The Mets' only extra-base hit was Reyes' right field homer that led off the eighth. But Scherzer continued to battle.

The inning ended on a dramatic matchup between Scherzer and Mets power hitter Yoenis Céspedes. The bout lasted 11 pitches, ending with a dramatic swinging strikeout that ended the eighth and also ended Scherzer's night on a high note.

"It's very enjoyable," Baker said of watching Scherzer pitch. "That's what I heard (Daniel Murphy) tell Max when we came in off the field. He said, 'Hey, it's very enjoyable to watch you pitch.' His determination and his grit, he was dealing. When Céspedes was fouling off those pitches, you know he wanted Céspedes and Céspedes wanted him. That was a classic battle with a guy that was tired but he reached back and got some more."

Scherzer said the one-on-one versus Céspedes was a battle he relished. With two outs in the eighth and the Nats up 4-1, he came into the at-bat at 107 pitches. He could sense the 37,919 at Citi Field saw an opening for their club to get back in the game.

"I love it. The crowd got on their feet," Scherzer said. "They were making a lot of noise. So I always love hearing a lot of crowd noise. Whether it's for you or against you. They helped provide the adrenaline I needed to power through that at-bat."

Scherzer said he, of course, had to execute pitches. But Matt Wieters methodically worked with him on how to solve Céspedes as he continued to foul off pitch after pitch.

"I had a couple pitches in mind, but I felt like in the end there, Wieters had a hot hand," Scherzer said. "I was just going with him. He was calling a good game back there for me tonight. He was in sync with what I need to do, and I trust him a lot of different times. And I could see what he was thinking there in that Céspedes at-bat. How to approach him and what I needed to do."

Wieters explained what Scherzer was looking to do to get Céspedes.

"Max doesn't need help at that point of the game," Wieters said. "Max had a good fastball, good slider all game. We were kind of just staying with those. Play with the idea of mixing in a changeup because there was so many foul balls to it. But you kind of figure that's probably Max's last hitter before his pitch count is to where you don't ever want to get beat on something that he hasn't (thrown much). His fastball, slider was there the whole game."

"I love competing against the best," Scherzer said about striking out Céspedes. "He's really one of the great hitters in this league. He can do damage at any time."

The 10 strikeouts marked the fifth straight start in which he had notched double-digit punchouts, eighth time on the season. He now has 57 career 10-plus strikeout performances.

"It's a cool accomplishment," Scherzer said. "That's not an easy thing to do, and you got to be on your game every single game and your pitches got to be sharp every time out. That speaks to consistency and the fact that I am on this little roll of being able to strike guys out. That speaks to where my stuff's at and also in sync with Wieters as well."