Max Scherzer Bunts Foul Ball Off His Face During Batting Practice
By Sean Facey
In a season that has seen very little go right for the Washington Nationals, things have somehow found a way to get worse.
Ace starter Max Scherzer took a foul ball off of his face while trying to bunt during batting practice and had to be taken to the trainer's room.
Max Scherzer took a ball to the face during pitchers BP — off his own bat while bunting — and went to the trainers room. Dave Martinez didn’t have an update on him during pregame, but it was right after it happened.
— Jesse Dougherty (@dougherty_jesse) June 18, 2019
Scherzer was not slated to start tonight's game against the Philadelphia Phillies, but he is in line to start the second leg of Wednesday's doubleheader. Manager Davey Martinez still expects him to make his start tomorrow.
In the midst of another Cy Young caliber season, Scherzer has posted a 2.81 ERAand struck out a whopping 136 batters in 99 1/3 innings of work across 15 starts.
Max Scherzer took a ball off the face during a bunting drill earlier today. He was getting checked out by the teams training staff, but Martinez said he still expected him to start one of the games in tomorrow’s doubleheader
— Jamal Collier (@JamalCollier) June 18, 2019
This is truly a freak injury that epitomizes just how frustrating things have been for Washington in 2019. At 33-38 and nine games out of first place in the NL East, things aren't looking much better in the Wild Card, where they're six games out of the second spot.
For a team that had playoff aspirations entering the year, 2019 has been nothing short of a nightmare.