Max Scherzer capped off a dominant outing on Saturday by tossing the second no-hitter in Nationals history. However, the right-hander came oh so close to pitching a perfect game.
With two outs in the ninth inning, a slider got away from Scherzer and went too far inside. The result was the ball hitting the elbow pad worn by Jose Tabata, who was awarded first base. And there went Scherzer’s perfect game.
After looking at replays, it doesn’t appear Tabata made much of an effort to get out of the way of the pitch. In fact, it looks like he leaned into it.
Scherzer got the following batter, Josh Harrison, to fly out to left field to complete the no-hitter. However, much of the talk after the game centered around Tabata and and his role in spoiling the perfect game.
Sports Illustrated’s Peter King weighed in with his opinion, which was shared by many.
Ump should have called Tabata for purposely getting hit. Bullcrap way to spoil the perfecto.
— Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) June 20, 2015
Scherzer, on the other hand, took the high road when speaking about Tabata’s at-bat.
"I dont blame him for doing it, I probably would have done the same thing." Max Scherzer on Jose Tabata being hit by pitch. #LIVEonSC
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 20, 2015
Despite losing the perfect game, Scherzer still deserves all of the props he’ll receive for his work on the mound Saturday. Unfortunately, he came up just shy of perfection.
