Nationals' Max Scherzer: Stymies Mets in Saturday victory

Scherzer (10-6) struck out nine and gave up one run (unearned) on three hits and two walks over seven innings in Saturday's 6-1 victory over the Mets.

Added to the NL All-Star roster in place of teammate Stephen Strasburg, Scherzer showed exactly why he should have been there to begin with, mowing the Mets down at a steady clip throughout his seven innings. He induced 18 swings-and-misses among the 73 pitches he threw for strikes, and a first-inning sacrifice fly was the only blemish on his stellar line for the afternoon, although even that sole run was unearned. The performance was Scherzer's third consecutive dominant effort, a stretch in which he's given up only two runs (one earned) on nine hits and six walks over 20.1 innings while recording 26 whiffs. He heads to the Mid-Summer Classic with a sparkling 0.96 WHIP and a whopping 164 strikeouts over 127.2 innings.