Max Scherzer ends five-start winless streak with strong outing in Los Angeles...

Max Scherzer took on the Los Angeles Dodgers in Chavez Ravine trying to snap a five-start winless streak, over which he was (0-2) with the Washington Nationals 0-5 in his outings in that stretch.

Scherzer put up a 4.05 ERA, four walks, 44 Ks, and a .271/.292/.414 line against in 33 ¹⁄₃ IP in those starts, with the last one before last night a six-inning outing against the Milwaukee Brewers in Miller Park which saw him give up six hits, a walk, and two runs, one earned, in a 5-3 loss.

“It is frustrating,” manager Davey Martinez said after the Nationals wasted another solid start from their ace.

“He’s kept us in the ballgame every game, and I know our offense will turn on again, but like I said, he pitched good enough today to win that game. We gave up four runs I think on runs we shouldn’t have [given] up. But he pitched well, I mean he settled down a little bit and he got some good outs, typical of Max, you know, so it’s a game that — I know we didn’t score a lot of runs, but a game that we should have won.”

Scherzer tossed two scoreless in Dodger Stadium to start the third of four for the Nationals in LA, but a two-out walk, and two-run home run in the third put the visiting team and their ace in a hole early, 2-0.

Scherzer held the Dodgers there through seven, throwing 115 pitches total, but Dodgers’ right-hander Walker Buehler held the Nationals off the board through seven innings that extended the Nats’ scoreless inning streak to 16-straight since they’d scored in the ninth inning of the series opener.

Max Scherzer’s Line: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 Ks, 1 HR, 115 P, 75 S, 5/4 GO/FO.

They rallied in the eighth, however, with Scherzer still the pitcher of record, so he earned the W in the 5-2 win.

“He’s been pitching really well, he has,” Martinez told reporters in LA after the Nationals’ 16th win in 39 games, “and for him to get a win tonight was gratifying for him but also for our club.”

“We needed this,” Scherzer said, as quoted by MASN’s Byron Kerr.

“That was a heck of an inning for us. We caught a little break, capitalized on one of their errors and set for a big inning. And then got into a two-out situation. Man, to see Parra hit that ball over the wall I think this whole dugout went nuts. That gave us so much energy to go out there and compete in the eighth and the ninth. That’s what we needed.”

“Max was really good,” Martinez added. “Really good. We had a good conversation and he wanted to stay out for the seventh and we were able to come back and get a win for him.”

Scherzer finished the night (W, 2-4) in nine starts with a 3.64 ERA, 10 walks, 79 Ks, and a .252/.295/.400 line against in 59 ¹⁄₃ IP.