Nats’ Scherzer Throws Second No-Hitter

“If you want to be a dominant pitcher, you look at what you can control”, said Scherzer.

The National League East-champion Mets are slumping at the wrong time, as they’ve followed a four-game sweep at Cincinnati with five consecutive losses – including a doubleheader against Washington on Saturday that featured Nationals right-hander Max Scherzer’s second no-hitter of the season in the nightcap.

“I just think it’s a great way to finish”, manager Terry Collins said.

C Wilson Ramos joined RHP Max Scherzer in making history Saturday night, when Ramos caught Scherzer’s no-hitter in a 2-0 win over the Mets.

Mets: LHP Steven Matz got an injection for his sore back and “hopefully that helps him a lot”, Collins said. He made all the pitches he had to make.

Scherzer threw 71% of his fastballs over the plate against New York. No Nationals pitcher had struck out 17 hitters in one game, nor nine in a row, before Scherzer did that, too.

“We had a few things that went sideways and we had a whole bunch of injuries, and not much you can do about that except adjust and move on”, Williams said. This is the first time the Mets have ever been no-hit twice in a season. Scherzer threw 109 pitches, 68 being fastballs.

When Curtis Granderson broke up the scoreless tie in the eighth with a solo home run, it allowed Jeurys Familia to tie the franchise’s single-season saves record with his 43rd of the year. The previous mark was 31 set by Texas and Seattle in 1997, STATS said.

For good measure, Scherzer also outhit the Mets, lining a single off ace Matt Harvey.

The Mets lost their fifth straight, having dropped the opener 3-1. Scherzer struck out 17 New York batters and walked none.

The Dodgers have yet to officially announce their starters for the first three games, but it is expected that Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke will start Games 1 and 2, with an exact order to be determined soon.

Scherzer’s first no-hitter of the season was on June 20 versus the Pirates.

Encarnacion put the Blue Jays up 3-1 on his 39th homer this season, a two-run shot off Brandon Gomes in the sixth. That pitch was a 96.3 miles per hour pyro flame- his third-fastest pitch of the night. In the bottom of the ninth, he still had gas throwing 96 miles per hour fastballs. His absurd 8.11 strikeout-to-walk ratio is by far the best in Nationals history. For Sunday’s game the Mets start Jacob deGrom who has allowed 149 hits and 54 earned runs while striking out 198 over 187 innings for a 14-8 record and a 2.60 ERA.

The Dodgers (91-70) now lead the Mets (89-72) by two games with one to play, ensuring a better record than New York, which was needed because the Mets held the tiebreaker over the Dodgers by virtue of winning four of their seven meetings this season. His last postseason appearance was for Oakland in 2013 where he gave up three runs in six innings and only struck out four. Jose Altuve homered and doubled for Houston.

Scherzer took a no-hit bid into the sixth inning for the fifth time this year. The television on the wall showed a map of the storms consuming the East Coast this weekend, the ones that forced his Washington Nationals into playing two games that meant nothing to them on a chilly, wet afternoon.

It is the seventh no-hitter of 2015 overall, following Chris Heston of the Giants, Cole Hamels of the Phillies, Hisashi Iwakuma of the Mariners, Mike Fiers of the Astros, Jake Arrieta of the Cubs, and Scherzer himself.

Kluber won the AL Cy Young Award last season with an 18-9 record and a 2.44 ERA, but his numbers have fallen off significantly.

The Nationals won the opener when Bryce Harper hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the eighth off Addison Reed (3-3).

While Cespedes, Uribe and Johnson all offer postseason experience, it’ll be the starting pitchers who will likely decide whether or not the Mets move beyond the NLDS.

The victor of the Mets vs. Dodgers series will advance to play in the National League Championship Series.