On Monday night, we saw a rare great moment in bunting when the St. Louis Cardinals’ Matt Carpenter beat the Miami Marlins’ shift with a bunt double. Less than 24 hours later, a reminder came that bunting usually doesn’t result in fun things, and it was a very painful reminder for Max Scherzer.
It didn’t even happen during a game, either. The Washington Nationals’ ace was working on bunting during batting practice Tuesday, and bunted a ball off his own face.
WATCH – Max Scherzer, who's scheduled to start Wednesday, was hit in the face by a ball during batting practice.
Details: https://t.co/sNoPv3co00 pic.twitter.com/27FonlyC33
— Nationals on MASN (@masnNationals) June 18, 2019
That resulted in a broken nose for Scherzer, who was scheduled to start Wednesday.
Max Scherzer’s nose is broken, the Nats announced. CT scan was negative and his status for tomorrow is TBD
— Jamal Collier (@JamalCollier) June 19, 2019
And that summarizes how things are going this season for the Nats (33-38).
Scherzer, however, has been his usual elite self. The right-hander currently leads all pitchers in WAR according to FanGraphs at 3.8. The Nats’ playoff hopes are already not looking good, and losing Scherzer for much time would be a killer blow.
