Nationals manager Dusty Baker loves to ride his starting pitchers to wins but Wednesday night against the Braves he may have left his ace in too long.
Max Scherzer had thrown 95 pitches through six innings in a 2-2 tie at Nationals Park but Baker decided to send his ace back out for the seventh inning. Sure, Scherzer should be able to mow down the 8-9-1 hitters for a team 13 games below .500, right?
Wrong. Scherzer failed to record an out. He issued four walks and a single in the seventh, an eventual six-run inning that cost the Nationals the game. Scherzer was tagged for seven runs on seven hits with six walks, the most he's issued in a game since 2013.
Why did Baker risk sending out Scherzer for the seventh especially considering the reigning Cy Young Award winner had a high pitch count? Scherzer asked for the extra work and Baker has shown plenty of confidence in his starters to go deep into games.
"I knew it was important for me, going into that start tonight, to be able to get to that level (above 110 pitches). That's where I showed some rust tonight," Scherzer told reporters after the game. "This is why I needed to pitch that deep into the game, so I can shake off some of that rust and later in the year here I'm able to be strong all the way through 110 pitches."
According to teamrankings.com, the Nationals have three of the top-11 pitchers in "pitches per start." Gio Gonzalez is third at 105.4 pitches, Tanner Roark is sixth with 102.5 and Scherzer is 11th with 101.6. Stephen Strasburg is 21st in MLB at 98.7, giving the Nationals four of the top 21 in baseball.
These pitch-count numbers could be important to watch as the Nationals attempt to end their postseason struggles next month.
Andrew McCutchen went just 1 for 5 in the Pirates' 8-2 loss to the Brewers but it was what he did with that one hit that was special. In the first inning, McCutchen connected on the 200th home run of his career.
Similarly, Paul Goldschmidt recorded one of the biggest milestones of his career. With two hits against the Rockies, Goldschmidt tallied the 999th and 1,000th hits of his career.
Astros' Mike Fiers tossed just 3 2/3 innings, gave up 10 hits, walked one and allowed eight earned runs in a loss to the Angels. His ERA is now above 10 in the months of August and September.
Brett Phillips was one of the additions for the Brewers in their trade of Carlos Gomez in 2015. One of the reasons for the excitement in picking Phillips up was his arm. He showed off that cannon Wednesday.
Trevor Story earned his name with his bat at the start of 2016, but it was his glove that got him noticed this time.
Marlins (68-77) at Phillies (56-89) 7:05 p.m. ET - Early in the year every Aaron Judge at-bat was must-watch television. Now every time Rhys Hoskins steps to the plate for the Phillies people are paying attention. After smacking his 17th home run in 33 career games Wednesday, Hoskins will look for more against Marlins right-hander Jose Urena (13-6, 3.61 ERA).