WASHINGTON _ Many believe the Cy Young Award is Jacob deGrom's to lose. His irresistibly-low ERA is impossible to ignore.
But if the Marlins had a say in the matter, they'd likely cast their vote for Max Scherzer, who has carved them up all season and did so again on Tuesday in the National's 9-4 victory.
With his latest lockdown job on them, Scherzer became the second pitcher to post five wins in a season against the Marlins, improving to 5-0 in their head-to-head meetings. The Mets' R.A. Dickey also went 5-0 against the Marlins in 2012. Dickey won the Cy Young that year.
Scherzer even closed out Tuesday's fine performance by whiffing Austin Dean for his 10th strikeout of the night and 300th of the season. He joined Walter Johnson as the only pitchers in Washington baseball history to reach that milestone. Johnson did it in 1910 and 1912.
But the milestone K did not come without a determined fight from Dean, who fouled off four straight full-count pitches before Scherzer was finally able to put him away.
For the record, Scherzer finished with a 2.12 ERA against the Marlins to go with his perfect won-loss record. In contrast, deGrom went 0-2 with a 3.12 in four starts against the Marlins.
The Marlins scored their only run off Scherzer Tuesday on Brian Anderson's RBI double in the fourth.
Inexperienced rookie Jeff Brigham was no match for his pitching counterpart. He gave up a three-run home run in the first inning to Anthony Rendon, walked four batters, and was done after four.
It only grew worse for the Marlins after Brigham came out of the game. The Nationals broke it open with six runs in the seventh off Tyler Kinley and Nick Wittgren.
Peter O'Brien cracked his fourth home run, a two-run shot in the eighth, and Christopher Bostick drove in a run in the ninth to complete the scoring.
