Scherzer strikes out 13 in masterful performance

ST. LOUIS — Facing Max Scherzer in a late afternoon start when the shadows and sun were playing tricks on the hitters? The Cardinals never had a chance. Mad Max kept the Redbirds hitters off balance all day long, mixing his pitches like the artist he is. The Cards managed to push one unearned run across on the Dodgers ace, but that was it. The rest of the day was full of slow and depressed walks back to the bat rack. On the other hand, Dodgers hitters jumped all over the Cards’ starter Miles Mikolas, scoring four in the first en route to a 5-1 victory.

Dodgers sleepy but bats wake up

According to the the Dodgers traveling party, it was right around 3:00 am local time that the team finally arrived at their hotels, giving them scant three or four hours of sleep before they had to wake up and get out to the ballpark for the afternoon game (nice job, MLB schedulers!). Anyway, the lack of rest didn’t seem to bother the Dodgers hitters much. They came into the game with all guns blazing, ripping the ball all around the yard in the first inning.

Trea Turner led off the fun with another of his patented two-strike hits. He ripped a ball to the left centerfield gap that hopped over the wall for a ground rule double and the Dodgers were off and running. Max Muncy ripped a single that moved Turner to third. And then, Mookie Betts started the scoring with a single of his own, a sharp ground ball through the left side.

Justin Turner grounded into a double play that scored a second run, and it looked like Mikolas would squirm off the hook with minimal damage. However, the Cards’ righthander walked Corey Seager, which extended the inning for Chris Taylor. Taylor, who entered the game still mired in a bad slump, got a great pitch to hit from Mikolas. He took a 1-0 four-seamer and ripped it hard, sending it over the left centerfield fence. Before Scherzer even took the mound, it was 4-0 Dodgers.

Scherzer tanned, rested, and ready

Max Scherzer flew to his hometown of St. Louis earlier on Sunday so that he could get a full night’s sleep. And he just put the team on his back the rest of the way. He went eight innings, scattering six hits along the way. Out of the righty’s 103 pitches on Saturday, 74 were for strikes, and many times it seemed like the St. Louis hitters were completely overmatched.

Dodgers add on in the third

In the top of the third, the Dodgers added on to their run total when Mookie Betts scampered home on a Corey Seager single off the glove of second baseman Tommy Edman. It would be all the Dodgers seemed interested in scoring, as they went hunting strikes the rest of the way and were quickly back in the dugout most innings. They seemed more than ready to get back to the hotel for some rest, and let Scherzer carry the load the rest of the way.

Max goes eight, no earned runs

And carry it he did. Using the sun and shadows to his advantage, Mad Max rung up thirteen batters and walked none. The only blemish to his scorecard was an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth when Austin Barnes let a passed ball skitter away from him far enough to let Tommy Edman sneak home under Scherzer’s tag. It was a Cy Young calling card if there ever were one. Speaking of which, Sherzer has now inched ahead of teammate Walker Buehler in the NL ERA race. Toss his his 210 strikeouts so far this season and suddenly the Cy Young race doesn’t look so cut and dry anymore.

No change to standings

The Giants won on Monday as well, so the one game deficit remains intact. Both teams are at it again on Tuesday night. The Dodgers will be doing some sort of bullpen game on both Wednesday and Thursday. Most likely Mitch White and Andre Jackson will be doing the bulk work in those games before Julio Urias‘s turn in the rotation comes up again on Thursday afternoon. And then, Buehler and Scherzer on the weekend and (dare we dream?) maybe Kershaw thrown in there somewhere.