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Battered batter-baffler: Nationals’ Max Scherzer dazzles with black eye, broken nose

Posted at 12:02 AM, Jun 20, 2019
and last updated 2019-06-20 00:04:46-04

WASHINGTON, DC – He was un-black & blue-lievable.

Pitching with a black eye and broken nose, Washington Nationals ace Max Scherzer dazzled Wednesday night – refusing to miss his scheduled start after suffering a broken nose during a bunting drill Tuesday.

Starting pitcher Max Scherzer #31 of the Washington Nationals. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

Scherzer struck out 10 and tossed seven shutout innings to lead the Nationals to a 2-0 victory at Nationals Park. According to MLB.com, his four-seamer averaged 96.2 mph on the evening, tied for the third-highest among any of the 358 starts (including postseason) in his career. He had not thrown that hard over the course of a single outing since Sept. 28, 2015, and had not thrown harder since Sept. 7, 2012.