MLB: Near-perfect Scherzer notches 3,000th career strikeout

LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles hurler Max Scherzer flirted with perfection Sunday as he became the 19th Major League Baseball pitcher to record 3,000 career strikeouts in the Dodgers 8-0 victory over the San Diego Padres.

Scherzer, 37, reached the 3,000 strikeout milestone when he fanned Eric Hosmer on a full-count changeup for the second out of the fifth inning.

But it would be Hosmer who broke up Scherzer's bid for a rare perfect game with one out in the eighth inning. Hosmer belted a changeup to the rightfield warning track -- out of the reach of speedy outfielder Mookie Betts -- for a double.

That ended Scherzer's bid for MLB's first perfect game since Seattle's Felix Hernandez threw the 23rd perfecto on August 15, 2012.

The nine-year drought without a perfect game -- in which a pitcher retires every batter he faces -- is the longest in the major leagues since the dry spell from 1968-1981.

But Scherzer had plenty to celebrate even without a perfect game or the third no-hitter of his career.

He joined former teammate Justin Verlander as the only active pitchers to reach 3,000 strikeouts.

He needed just 66 pitches to record six perfect innings -- that included striking out the side on nine pitches in the second for the third "immaculate inning" of his career.

"It's hard to describe the emotion," said Scherzer, who was able to celebrate his strikeout milestone with his wife and small children as well as his parents at Dodger Stadium -- which he has called home only since a July 30 trade from the Washington Nationals.

"To me this is a testament to durability, to me going out there making my 30-plus starts a year, year-in, year-out."

Scherzer, a three-time Cy Young Award winner, is now in the hunt for a fourth award for the league's top pitcher.

He is 6-0 in eight starts as a Dodger with a 0.88 earned run average and 71 strikeouts in 51 innings.

His ERA for the season is a major league-leading 2.17, a smidge in front of Milwaukee's Corbin Burnes (2.25) and Dodgers teammate Walker Buehler (2.32).

Agence France-Presse

Baseball: Nationals stun Astros in World Series opener

HOUSTON -- Juan Soto recorded a three-hit, three-RBI game in his World Series debut as the Washington Nationals rallied for a 5-4 victory over the Houston Astros in Game 1 of the Fall Classic on Tuesday.

Soto drilled an opposite-field, game-tying home run leading off the fourth inning. He delivered a two-run double, also to the opposite field, an inning later to cap the Nationals' three-run uprising off Astros ace Gerrit Cole (0-1).

At 20 years, 362 days old, Soto became the fourth-youngest player to homer in a World Series game, trailing only Andruw Jones (19 years, 180 days in 1996), Miguel Cabrera (20 years, 187 days in 2003) and Mickey Mantle (20 years, 352 days in 1952).

Nationals starter Max Scherzer (1-0) survived five laborious innings and departed with a 5-2 lead.

Soto pulled the Nationals even at 2-all with his 417-foot blast onto the train tracks above left-center field. Cole, 19-0 with a 1.59 ERA over his previous 25 starts, had already surrendered a solo homer to Ryan Zimmerman with two outs in the second inning. By the time Soto strolled to the plate in the fifth, the Nationals had secured a 3-2 lead.

Two batters after Adam Eaton produced a run-scoring single to right, Soto lined a 3-2 slider from Cole off the scoreboard in left. Victor Robles and Anthony Rendon scored on the play, with Rendon coming home from first base after the ball caromed past left fielder Michael Brantley.

Scherzer responded by retiring the side in order for the first time in the bottom of the fifth. He'd allowed a two-run, two-out, two-strike double to Yuli Gurriel in the first inning after holding batters to an 0-for-17 mark with runners in scoring position this postseason.

Scherzer capped his night having allowed just two runs on five hits and three walks with seven strikeouts.

An inability to deliver with runners in scoring position plagued the Astros throughout. George Springer singlehandedly attempted to carry Houston back to the lead, with his leadoff homer in the seventh against Nationals right-hander Tanner Rainey cutting the deficit to 5-3 before his RBI double an inning later sliced the margin to one run.

However, Nationals left-hander Sean Doolittle entered and retired Brantley to strand Springer on second, then retired the side in order in the ninth to earn the save. Houston finished 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11 baserunners.

Cole wound up allowing five runs on eight hits and a walk with six strikeouts in seven innings.

Washington will look to head home with a 2-0 series lead when Stephen Strasburg takes the mound opposite Justin Verlander in Game 2 on Wednesday.

source: news.abs-cbn.com