Washington Nationals vs St. Louis Cardinals: Grapefruit League GameThread...

A rough third inning, in which four straight Cardinals reached base, led to St. Louis scoring three runs on Washington Nationals’ ace Max Scherzer last week, in the right-hander’s start on the road in Jupiter, FL’s Roger Dean Stadium.

There were, however, some misplayed balls that inning, with late steps and bad routes in the outfield costing him potential outs.

Scherzer talked after the outing, his fourth this Spring, about what he took from the results on the mound in Spring Training.

“When it’s Spring it’s always good to pitch through some stressful innings,” Scherzer told reporters. “Especially when they’re scoring — when you’re pitching with guys on base, to have to execute pitches out of the stretch, have to change your timing, change your signs up, that’s all the little stuff that you have to be able to manage within the game in the regular season, so you want to experience that here in Spring.

“So the fact that there are misplayed balls, it’s actually good, let’s knock them out of the way in Spring, let me work through some stuff here in Spring to get ready for the regular season.”

Through four starts this Spring, Scherzer has given up 14 hits (two home runs), three walks, and nine earned runs in 13 ²⁄₃ IP, striking out 13 and holding opposing hitters to a .259 AVG so far.

Scherzer makes his fifth start in Grapefruit League action, and his second consecutive start against the Cardinals, this afternoon, when the Nationals welcome the Cards to West Palm Beach for a 1:05 PM EDT game that’s being broadcast on MASN, the MLB Network, MLB dot TV and 106.7 the FAN in D.C.