Washington Nationals starter Max Scherzer joined San Francisco Giants starter Chris Heston on Saturday as the second pitcher to throw a no-hitter during the 2015 MLB season. Scherzer's performance was dominant, just like his campaign thus far.
Scherzer was perfect through 8 2/3 innings, but then hit pinch hitter Jose Tabata with a pitch after the outfielder fouled off three pitches on a 2-2 count. Tabata appeared to have leaned in and barely had the ball clip his elbow. Heston hit three batters against the New York Mets during his no-hitter.
Check out the controversial hit-by-pitch in yesterday's game below:
Scherzer stayed on track and got Pirates' third baseman Josh Harrison to fly out to left to end the game. He recorded 10 strikeouts in the historic outing to mark the sixth start during which he has notched 10-plus strikeouts this season.
The Nationals' ace completed the second no-hitter in Nationals' history, behind Jordan Zimmermann's no-no against the Miami Marlins on the final day of the 2014 season.
Scherzer is now 8-5 with a 1.76 ERA, 0.80 WHIP and 123 strikeouts in 14 starts (102 1/3 innings) this season and leads the MLB in ERA, WHIP and strikeouts. He has given up just one hit, one walk and one hit batsman in his last two starts against the Brewers and Pirates (18 innings total).
You can check out all of the 27 outs he recorded below:
According to Trent McCotter of the SABR Records Committee, the right-hander is the second pitcher ever to allow only three baserunners over his last two complete games, joining Pud Galvin of the Buffalo Bisons back in 1884.
But let's not forget about the offense that helped Scherzer earn the win. Bryce Harper hit his 23rd home run in the fourth inning to mark a career-high and take sole possession of second place in the MLB home run race. He then added an RBI single in the sixth to go along with Anthony Rendon's RBI double and Tyler Moore's two-run single that inning. Michael Taylor scored on a wild pitch in the seventh to extend the lead to 6-0, which was the score at game's end.
The Nationals will close out their series with the Pirates on Sunday at 1:35 p.m. ET.
