Max-imum effort: Scherzer, Nats wiggle to win Series opener

HOUSTON (AP) — He could have been Mad Max on a night his best was missing. Instead, he fenced and fought, shuffled and juggled.

And so did the Washington Nationals bullpen.

As the Houston Astros kept clawing within one big hit of a comeback, Scherzer and the Nationals just held on.

Scherzer got through five innings of Max-imum effort for a 5-4 victory in Tuesday night's opener, becoming the first pitcher to win a World Series game for a Washington team since Earl Whitehill against the New York Giants in 1933.

Unable to overwhelm, Scherzer threw a bit of the ol' razzle dazzle that included 112 pitches, nine full counts and six stranded runners.

Nationals manager Dave Martinez followed the once-unconventional and now by-the-postseason-book method of tapping starters for big-moment relief, bringing in Patrick Corbin for the sixth, the first of four heartburn-inducing relievers.

A three-time Cy Young Award winner and seven-time All-Star, Scherzer is seeking his first Series ring at age 35. His only previous time on baseball's biggest stage was a no-decision in Game 4 for Detroit as San Francisco completed a four-game sweep in 2012.

He fell behind quickly against the Astros, walking George Springer, allowing a first-pitch single to José Altuve and giving up a two-out, two-run double to Yuli Gurriel that hit high off the left field wall.

Scherzer stranded one in the second by throwing a changeup past Springer for a called third strike, runners at the corners in the third by getting Carlos Correa to swing over a slider and two on in the fourth by getting Altuve on a soft groundout to first. Only in the fifth, when Corbin already was warming up, did Scherzer pitch a 1-2-3 inning.

Corbin pitched around a single in the sixth, and Tanner Rainey gave up a home run to Springer...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Max-imum-effort-Scherzer-Nats-wiggle-to-win-14555126.php