Scherzer extends scoreless streak in win over Reds

LOS ANGELES — Max Scherzer is on fire right now. The last time anybody got an earned run off him was back on August 21 when the Mets’ Brandon Nimmo nicked him for a solo home run. Since then, it’s been nothing but zeroes on the scoreboard when Mad Max is on the mound. For those of you keeping score at home, that is 37 straight innings of scoreless ball. Is Orel getting nervous?

On Saturday in Cincinnati, Scherzer fought though a few early command issues and threw seven scoreless. Meanwhile, the offense took a while to get revved up but led by Gavin Lux, the Dodgers plated four runs in the middle innings en route to a 5-1 victory.

Pitchers’ duel with Gray early

The first time through the lineup, there wasn’t much happening on the basepaths for either team. It was nothing but goose eggs for the first four innings, and barely anyone even made hard contact. Reds starter Sonny Gray was pitching well, too, mixing his slider and curve with his heater to keep Dodgers’ hitters off-balance. In the first four innings the Dodgers only managed one hit, an infield single from Trea Turner. It didn’t amount to anything in that inning, but Turner did steal second base, which gave him his first career 30-steal, 20-homer season. In addition, Turner went 2-for-5 on the day to keep his NL-leading batting average at .317.

Game delay affects both pitchers

Oddly enough, the turning point in this game might have been something that happened outside the lines. After the top of the fourth inning, home plate umpire Brian O’Nora fell ill, and there was a nearly fifteen minute delay while a new umpire put on the gear to take over behind the plate. Coming out after game finally resumed, Max Scherzer seemed to lose the plate a bit, walking Joey Votto on four pitches to lead off the bottom of the fourth. However, Scherzer was able to right the ship and got out of the inning without giving up a run.

Sonny Gray wasn’t so lucky. The first hitter Gray faced in the fifth, Justin Turner, wasted no time in getting the ball rolling. He ripped the second pitch he saw into the left field corner for a solid double. This was followed up by a Chris Taylor groundball to Mike Moustakas at third, but Moose was too busy looking JT back to second to pay attention to his throw. He threw the ball wide to first, and CT3 was able to scamper to second while Turner easily moved over to third.

Lux, Gavin Lux

This set up the Dodgers’ hottest hitter this week, Gavin Lux. After sitting out Friday’s game because he got plunked on the forearm by the pitching machine (don’t ask), Lux was eager to get back in the swing on Saturday. With two men in scoring position, Lux came through big time. He ripped a slider from Gray down the right field line for a bases-clearing triple. It was Lux’s eighth hit and fifth RBI this week.

Then Lux decided to impact the game with his speed. Already on third because of his wheels, Lux saw another opportunity when Austin Barnes hit a tapper to the left side of the mound. Lux judged the ball perfectly and broke for home. By the time Sonny Gray fielded the ball, Lux was three-quarters of the way home. Gray saw that he had no play and Lux slid across home without a throw. Just like that, it was 3-0 Dodgers.

Scherzer goes seven shutout innings

Meanwhile, Max Scherzer was shoving. After working through the shaky fourth, Scherzer was on point the rest of the way. He pitched three straight 1-2-3 innings, and retired the last twelve Reds he faced. It was just another chapter in the best baseball story of the trade deadline. After Saturday’s seven scoreless, Scherzer (15-4, 2.08) now has a Dodger ERA of an insane 0.78. Mr. Scherzer better start making some space on his mantelpiece. His line for today: 7.0 IP, 2 H 7 K.

Dodgers add on in sixth and ninth

Though the three runs from the fifth were plenty, the Dodgers did get a couple of small ball runs later in the game. First, in the sixth, Chris Taylor laid down a nice sacrifice squeeze bunt to score Trea Turner from third to make it 4-0 Dodgers.

Then in the ninth, the Dodgers got a walk and couple of singles to score their fifth run. The RBI in the inning was supplied by Mookie Betts, who extended his hitting streak to ten straight games. Quietly Mookie has been looking much more like himself lately. In fact in the last thirty games, he is hitting .324 with eight home runs.

Vesia needs help from Jansen to finish off the Reds

After Joe Kelly went 1-2-3 in the eighth, Alex Vesia got the call to finish up the game, and he nearly did so. Unfortunately, on what would have been the final out of the game, Corey Seager made a throwing error that allowed a run to score to cut the Reds’ deficit to four runs. With two men on base, manager Dave Roberts was in no mood to take his chances, so called on Kenley Jansen to finish things up with a strikeout of Eugenio Suarez to notch his 34th save. Final score: Dodgers 5, Reds 1.

Piggyback start on Sunday

Now with an off-day on Monday, Doc has decided to empty his chamber here in Cincy. He’s got Clayton Kershaw slated to start, but Kersh is still on a pretty tight pitch limit, so Roberts has announced that Tony Gonsolin will be first out of then pen after Clayton’s limit is reached. With the bullpen pretty well rested this weekend, this “piggyback” strategy might not be necessary, but it will get both starters their work going into the last two weeks of the year. They figure to be stretched out a bit more against the D-backs in Phoenix next weekend. In the meantime, we’ve got a series to win here in Ohio. It’s another early one on Sunday, with a 10:10 am local time first pitch.