Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer was absolutely dealing on Sunday against the Reds. He was in such a groove that he had no time for pitch counts or pesky managers trying to conserve his arm.
After Scherzer struck out his 14th Reds hitter of the day, Nationals manager Dave Martinez emerged from the dugout with two outs in the eighth inning to take out his ace. Mind you, Scherzer had already thrown 117 pitches on the day, but he was not about to leave the game before that inning ended.
The moment he saw Martinez, Scherzer gave his manager an intense stare and shouted “NO!” as he approached the mound.
Good luck with that, Dave.
Scherzer, as you could have guessed by his initial reaction, refused to leave the game. And Martinez let his pitcher face Joey Votto with two outs.
That ended up being a solid decision because Scherzer struck Votto out on three pitches.
The Nationals went on to win, 4-1. Don’t mess with Max Scherzer.
