As a Dodger fan it angered you to no end, but as a true fan of the great game of baseball it left you awestruck.

On Tuesday night, 33-year-old Dodgers right-hand Brandon McCarthy was absolutely brilliant and pitched as good as he has all season. The problem was, 32-year-old Washington Nationals right-hander Max Scherzer was even better; not just a little better, historic better.

Whereas McCarthy allowed two runs on three hits with two walks and four strikeout in his 7.0 innings of work, Scherzer allowed only one unearned run on three hits with two walks and 14 strikeouts – FOURTEEN – in his 7.0 innings of work. In fact, former Dodger and current SportsNet LA analyst Jerry Hairston Jr. summed it up best – “The Dodgers ran into a buzz saw tonight.”

The historic part comes into play with the fact that this was the 55th time in which Scherzer has struck out 10 or more batters in a game in his 10-year MLB career and the sixth time that he has done so this season. Additionally, his 14 Ks on the night marked a season high for the St. Louis, Missouri native.

A buzz saw indeed.

With his 14 strikeouts on Tuesday night, Scherzer is now five shy of 2,000 career strikeouts. Sound familiar?
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

In the 148-year history of the MLB, there have been only three pitchers in MLB history who have struck out 20 batters in a single nine-inning game. Ironically, Max Scherzer is one of them, having done so on May 11, 2016. The other two are former Cubs right-hander Kerry Wood, who did so on May 6, 1998, and former Red Sox right-hander Roger Clemens, who incredibly did it twice – once on April 29, 1986 and again on September 18, 1996. And even though Scherzer fell six strikeouts short of tying his own tri-held record and seven short of breaking it, he was as dominant of an opposing pitcher as the Dodgers have faced this year.

Scherzer finished his seven innings of work having thrown a total of 105 pitches, of which 73 were for strikes. And though this is a bit of a high pitch count for seven innings of work, it was probably that one unearned run that forced Nationals manager Dusty Baker to pull him more so than the 107 pitches. Had Nats second baseman Daniel Murphy (yes, that Daniel Murphy) not bobbled Dodger shortstop Corey Seager‘s hard grounder that should have been an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play in the first inning, Scherzer would have – or at least could have – had a three-hit complete-game shutout. But Baker is no fool – nor is Scherzer – and the win was obviously more important than a basically meaningless CG SO.

As for the Dodgers offense, what little of it there was, Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez followed the Murphy error with a sharp single down the right field line to drive in veteran Dodgers second baseman Chase Utley, who had walked ahead of Seager, to score the Dodgers lone run. That was it.

The entire sum of the Dodgers offense in Tuesday night’s 2-1 loss to the Washington Nationals was this first-inning Adrian Gonzalez RBI single. From that point on, the Dodgers were Maxed out.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

There is one little tidbit that will further anger Dodger fans, Max Scherzer notwithstanding. In what seems to be their eternal cross to bear, the Dodgers were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position on Tuesday night while stranding seven men on base. And when you’re facing a guy like Max Scherzer, that is absolutely the kiss of death.