Washington ace Max Scherzer, looking to shake off an uncharacteristic first month of the season, will face his hometown team Wednesday as the Nationals host the St. Louis Cardinals in the third game of a four-game series.
Scherzer, 34, graduated from Parkway Central High near St. Louis and was a standout at the University of Missouri. He was drafted by Arizona out of Missouri in 2006 when Mike Rizzo, now the Washington general manager, was with the Diamondbacks.
In his most recent start, at home Friday against San Diego, Scherzer recorded the 2,500th strikeout of his career. But though he gave up only two runs on four hits while fanning 10 in seven innings, he did not figure in the decision as the Nationals lost.
“I shortened up my arm action just a little bit,” Scherzer, 1-3 with a 4.12 ERA this season, told reporters Friday, “and when I’m in a better slot, it allows me to really work through the ball a lot better.”
Scherzer is 2-4 with a 2.84 ERA in nine career starts against the Cardinals. He had no record with a 3.86 ERA in one start against St. Louis last season and 1-1, 0.69 in two starts in 2017.
Scherzer will be opposed by Miles Mikolas (2-2, 5.29), the third of four right-handers slated to start for the Cardinals in the series.
He is 1-1, 6.43 in three games with two starts in his career against the Nationals. Mikolas went five innings Friday and gave up six hits and four runs with four strikeouts and a walk in a loss to the Cincinnati Reds.
“Sometimes you leave balls down the middle and they’re flyouts to center,” Mikolas told reporters Friday. “Sometimes they’re home runs.”
The Cardinals struck out 15 times but won 3-2 on Tuesday as Harrison Bader drove in two runs during a three-run rally in the fourth.
The Cardinals have won 10 of their last 12 games while the Nationals have lost eight of the last 11. Washington is 4-6 in one-run games while St. Louis is 5-3.
“We’ve got to capitalize,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said after the game. “We have to put the ball in play. We’ve got to start driving in the runs. We’ve got to keep battling. The hitting is going to come around. It will turn around; we will start winning the close games.”
Current St. Louis hitters are 34-for-160 (.213) with four homers against Scherzer.
The Washington ace has been a thorn in the side of Cardinals slugger Paul Goldschmidt, who is 1-for-18 (.056) against Scherzer. St. Louis outfielder Marcell Ozuna is 7-for-30 (.232) against Scherzer with two homers.
Scherzer (2,503 strikeouts) is closing in on Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson (2,507) for 34th on the all-time strikeout list.
Before Tuesday’s game, Anthony Rendon of the Nationals went on the 10-day injured list. Rendon was hit on the left arm with a pitch on April 20 in Miami.
That means three of the four Opening Day starters for the Nationals infield are now on the injured list. First baseman Ryan Zimmerman went on the IL Sunday with plantar fasciitis and shortstop Trea Turner went on the IL April 3 due to a broken right index finger.
“It would not heal,” Martinez said of Rendon. “He thought he was getting a little better.”
Washington called up pitcher Dan Jennings from Double-A Harrisburg to take Rendon’s spot, and the lefty got two outs in the ninth inning Tuesday.