Max Scherzer, Nationals get the best of Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers

Gone are the days of heavyweight pitching duels, but that’s what the baseball world was treated to Friday night when the Washington Nationals visited Dodger Stadium to take on the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Max Scherzer vs. Clayton Kershaw took center stage.

And though the game might not have lived up to the hype, the results still showed a well-pitched, low-scoring affair that ended in a 5-2 victory for the Nationals.

Scherzer and Kershaw have combined for five of the last seven National League Cy Young Awards, with Kershaw notching three and Scherzer the reigning back-to-back winner. Scherzer also earned an American League Cy Young Award in 2013 while with the Detroit Tigers, making this matchup only the 10th time in baseball history that two three-time Cy Young Award winners squared off.

Scherzer was far from his dominant self, but he only allowed one run on four hits, three walks and two hit batters in six innings of work. He struck out eight, including his final four outs.

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Meanwhile, the Nationals jumped on Kershaw early, taking a 1-0 lead before the left-hander even threw his fourth pitch.

The Nationals' Trea Turner ripped a first-pitch double down the left-field line while fans were still making their way to their seats. Then Turner moved to second after Howie Kendrick flied out to deep center on the first pitch he saw, and Bryce Harper singled Turner home with a single to left on Kershaw's first pitch.

Ryan Zimmerman chased Harper home with an RBI double to deep center, and just like that the Nats were up 2-0.

Kershaw settled in to retire the next 11 in a row after Zimmerman's double, but allowed a run on three hits in the fifth and another run on three hits in the sixth. Kershaw finished seven innings, allowing four runs on nine hits with no walks and four strikeouts.

A Scherzer-vs.-Kershaw sequel could come in mid-May, when the Dodgers visit Nationals Park for a three-game series.

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