Nationals ace Max Scherzer allowed just one run and three hits with a season-high 15 strikeouts over eight masterful innings as Washington defeated the host Cincinnati Reds 4-1 on Sunday in the rubber match of their three-game series.
Anthony Rendon had three hits and an RBI, Brian Dozier had two hits and drove in two, and Kurt Suzuki had two hits and an RBI as the Nationals, who had nine hits overall, won for the seventh time in their last nine games.
The Nationals also won four out of five on their road trip, which began with two victories in Atlanta.
Scherzer (3-5) amassed his strikeouts in bunches, getting five in a row early in the game and three in a row on two other occasions. He walked only one batter.
Scherzer’s 86th game of at least 10 strikeouts raised his career total to 2,566, lifting him into 29th place on the all-time MLB list. He surpassed longtime Mets and Twins pitcher Jerry Koosman (2,556) and late 1800s pitcher Tim Keefe (2,564) on Sunday.
Washington won for just the third time in Scherzer’s 13 starts this season, although he began the day with a 3.26 ERA and lowered that to 3.06. He made a season-high 120 pitches, 84 for strikes.
The Reds, who lost for the third time in four games, got their first two hits off Scherzer in the fourth, back-to-back doubles from Joey Votto and Derek Dietrich to begin the inning to cut their deficit to 2-1.
Tucker Barnhart, who broke up a no-hit bid by Scherzer in the eighth inning of a game in Washington in 2015, also doubled to lead off the bottom of the eighth, but Scherzer stranded him at second.
The Nationals scored their first run just three batters into the game when Trea Turner hit a leadoff double and scored on Rendon’s single to left field.
The Nationals extended their lead to 2-0 with a run in the top of the fourth when Suzuki smacked an 0-2 pitch from Reds right-hander Sonny Gray (2-5) for a two-out double to left-center to score Juan Soto.
In five innings, Gray allowed two runs on five hits and a walk. He struck out four.
Dozier singled home two runs off Reds closer Raisel Iglesias in the eighth inning to pad Washington’s lead.
Sean Doolittle pitched a perfect ninth inning for his 12th save in 14 opportunities.


Astros outlast Athletics in 12 
innings to complete sweep
Michael Brantley and Yuli Gurriel stroked RBI singles in the 12th inning Sunday afternoon, allowing the Houston Astros to complete a three-game sweep of the host Oakland Athletics with a 6-4 victory.
The win was the Astros’ seventh in eight meetings with the A’s this season. Houston had a three-game home sweep earlier this season. Myles Straw led off the 12th with a single off Lou Trivino (2-3), Oakland’s fifth pitcher, and stole second.
With one out, Alex Bregman walked and Brantley gave the Astros the lead with his run-scoring single.Gurriel then followed with his hit, making it a two-run game.
Josh James (3-0) got the win with two innings of shutout relief, striking out three.
The A’s trailed 4-2 before Ramon Laureano made it a one-run game with a solo homer, his seventh of the season, off reliever Will Harris in the seventh inning.
Matt Chapman then got the A’s even when he hit Ryan Presley’s third pitch of the eighth inning for his team-leading 16th home run, making it a 4-4 game.
Both starters pitched well enough to win, but neither got a decision.
Astros right-hander Gerrit Cole, unbeaten in his career in Oakland, left after six innings with a 4-2 lead. He gave up four hits, including solo home runs by Robbie Grossman and Jurickson Profar in the second inning.
Cole walked two and struck out four.
Oakland’s Chris Bassitt allowed Houston’s first three runs, although two came home on an infield single by Bregman in the fifth inning on which A’s shortstop Marcus Semien threw the ball errantly, allowing both Tony Kemp and Straw to score.
The Astros’ other run off Bassitt was the product of doubles by Derek Fisher and Gurriel in the first inning.
Houston extended their lead to 4-2 in the seventh inning against A’s left-hander Ryan Buchter when Straw walked, stole second and scored on a single by Fisher.
Straw had three hits, three steals and scored three times for the Astros, who won for the seventh time in their last nine games.
Gurriel also finished with three hits, while Fisher and Bregman had two apiece in an 11-hit attack.