Why Dusty Baker was right to pull Scherzer in Game 3
You're damned if you do, damned if you don't, as the saying goes.
Dusty Baker knows this firsthand. The Washington Nationals skipper was put in an impossible situation during Monday's 2-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs. Nursing a one-run lead, starting pitcher Max Scherzer allowed a hit - his first - with one out in the seventh inning.
Baker had a few options. The one he didn't choose was to leave Scherzer in the game to face left-handed slugger Kyle Schwarber. Scherzer had already struck Schwarber out in the game, and had collected seven Ks total.
Instead, Baker went to lefty Sammy Solis, prompting Cubs manager Joe Maddon to replace Schwarber with right-handed outfielder Albert Almora Jr. Things didn't work out for Baker. The Cubs tied the game when Almora stroked a perfectly placed RBI single up the middle.
Baker, long known as the manager who pushed Mark Prior and Kerry Wood to the brink when they were young, showed restraint with his ace. Scherzer had thrown 98 pitches and was making his first start since a hamstring injury ended his final regular-season appearance prematurely.
It's easy to look at the end result and then condemn or praise the process. In Monday's early game between the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox, Astros manager A.J. Hinch brought Justin Verlander out of the bullpen in the middle of the fifth inning for his first major-league relief appearance. This elicited plenty of head-scratching, especially when Verlander allowed a go-ahead home run to Andrew "Benny Biceps" Benintendi.
Not only did the Astros win the game, but Verlander got the credit in the box score. The homer was the only hit he allowed in 2 2/3 innings. Hinch was vindicated, and he won't get nearly the amount of scrutiny he would have had they lost, or as much as Baker is getting.
Sure, Scherzer is the best pitcher on the Nationals' roster, and maybe he would have handled Schwarber. Or, Baker gets blamed for giving his starter too much leeway after Schwarber hits a two-run bomb. Going to Solis instead made sense, and Baker stood by his choice.
"We thought Max had had enough, especially coming off the injury, and, you know, Schwarber is a dangerous man. I probably couldn't live with myself if Schwarber had hit one out of the park on you, which he's dangerous to do that," Baker said, according to ASAP Sports.
"So we thought we made the right decision. You know, he got a changeup up to Almora and you know, that was, you know - they continue to get the clutch hits. You know, we haven't gotten them, yet. But we will."
Schwarber is abysmal against lefties. He batted .171 against southpaws over 98 plate appearances, striking out in 34 of them. Meanwhile, Baker knew there was a chance he would be replaced. Solis, for his career, has held right-handed hitters to a .224 batting average while striking out 26.8 percent of those he's faced. Both of those numbers are actually better than how he's fared against lefties.
Pointing the finger at Baker, and saying he should have kept Scherzer in the game, is shortsighted. It also ignores the fact that the top four hitters in the Nationals' lineup went a combined 0-for-16.
And just like with Verlander and the Astros eventually winning, had Solis gotten out of the inning, no one would care.