Washington Nationals rally late, beat Milwaukee Brewers, 3-2: Michael A. Taylor blast, Trea Turner RBI double lift Nats...

Another night, another Milwaukee Brewers’ starter dominating Washington Nationals’ hitters. Kyle Davies (7 IP, 6 H, 2 R) and Jimmy Nelson (7 IP, 3 H, 0 R) held the current NL East division leaders in check in the first two games in Miller Park.

This time it was 24-year-old, 2014 11th Round pick Brandon Woodruff, in his fourth major league outing, holding the Nationals to one run on two hits in seven innings.

Max Scherzer left tonight’s start after five innings, toughing it out following a first-inning comebacker that caught his back/left leg.

Scherzer left with the game tied, 1-1, but the Brewers scored a run on lefty Oliver Perez with a two-out walk and chopper over first base that Daniel Murphy missed backing up Ryan Zimmerman and Jayson Werth bobbled in right field, 2-1.

Woodruff went seven strong, striking out eight, but Michael A. Taylor homered off Brewers’ left-hander Josh Hader and Wilmer Difo bunted his way on before scoring from first on an RBI double by Trea Turner in the eighth, 3-2.

Brandon Kintzler tossed a scoreless eighth on just seven pitches, and Sean Doolittle earned his 14th save in 14 appearances for the Nationals. 3-2 final.

Nationals now 82-53

HERE’S HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Brewers’ rookie Brandon Woodruff, (an 11th Round pick by Milwaukee in 2014), and Nationals’ ace Max Scherzer (a 1st Round pick by Arizona taken 11th overall in 2006), both threw three scoreless and hitless innings to start tonight’s game with Woodruff’s hit-by-pitch on Ryan Zimmerman in the second providing the only baserunner for either team through three innings.

• Howie Kendrick walked to start the Nationals’ half of the fourth, stole second, and took third on a single to center by Daniel Murphy, who connected for the first hit of the game, but he tried to take second when he noticed no one was covering the bag and got tagged out in true TOOTBLAN fashion.

Ryan Zimmerman stepped in next and singled to left on a full-count slider to drive Kendrick in for a 1-0 lead.

• Scherzer’s no-hit bid ended in the first at bat of the fourth with Eric Sogard singling to center and scoring on an Eric Thames double on an 0-1 fastball in the next at bat, 1-1.

• Max Scherzer looked uncomfortable on the mound in the fourth after taking a liner off his left (back) leg earlier in the game off Travis Shaw’s bat, and he didn’t look too good running out a groundout in the final at bat of the top of the fifth inning, but he came back out in the bottom of the fifth and worked around a one-out walk to keep it tied at 1-1.

• Scherzer did not come back out for the sixth, however.

• Max Scherzer’s Line: 5.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 Ks, 75 P, 44 S, 5/2 GO/FO.

• Oliver Perez took over on the mound for the Nationals in the Brewers’ half of the sixth, and gave up a run after a two-out walk when he put Neil Walker on and then allowed a high-chopper over first that got over Ryan Zimmerman, by Daniel Murphy and all the way to Jayson Werth, who bobbled it, 2-1.

• Ryan Madson returned to the mound for the first time since August 12th with a scoreless seventh inning, retiring the side in order in a 10-pitch frame.

• Brandon Woodruff’s Line: 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 Ks, 105 P, 73 S, 8/3 GO/FO.

• Brewers’ left-hander Josh Hader, who tore through the Nationals last night, striking out three in a 12-pitch frame, entered the game in the eighth tonight and gave up a leadoff home run to left by Michael A. Taylor, a bunt single by Wilmer Difo, and a one-out RBI double to center by Trea Turner, 3-2 Nationals.

• Brandon Kintzler took over with a one-run lead in the eighth and retired the side in order in a seven-pitch frame.

• Sean Doolittle needed 17 pitches to finish things off as he worked around a two-out single in the bottom of the ninth to earn his 14th save in 14 opportunities since joining the Nationals. Manny Pina got a rise out of the crowd with a long fly ball to center, but Michael A. Taylor caught it on the track. Ballgame. Final Score: 3-2 Nationals.

NATIONALS PREGAME NOTES:

• With wins in the first two games of the four-game set in Miller Park, Milwaukee opened up a 45-42 advantage over Washington in the all-time series between the two teams.
• Washington’s 41-26 road record after dropping two straight to Milwaukee still gave the Nationals the most road wins in the NL and the second-best winning percentage on the road (.612).
• Milwaukee started the night are 38-31 at home this season, and 7-1 in their last 8 in Miller Park.
• Washington’s starters began the night with the lowest opponents’ batting average (.229), and second-lowest SLG (.383), OBP (.297) and ERA (3.46) and the third most strikeouts (844) in the majors.
• Max Scherzer started the night with the second-lowest ERA in the majors (2.21).
• Washington’s offense started the night leading the NL in SLG (.457), runs scored (704), and OPS (.793), with the second-highest AVG (.270), and second-most extra-base hits (471).

Nationals now 82-53