One day after Aníbal Sánchez tossed 7 2/3 no-hit innings against the Cardinals, NLCS Game 2 starter Max Scherzer took his own no-hit attempt into the seventh inning. Washington’s ace wasn’t quite as economical with his pitches as his teammate had been; he ran up a pitch count of 92 while holding St. Louis to two walks and 11 strikeouts through six frames. In the top of the seventh, Paul Goldschmidt led off with a single that just missed the glove of Juan Soto in left field, spoiling Scherzer’s bid to become the first Nationals pitcher with a postseason no-hitter.
Even without the satisfaction of completing the no-hitter, the right-hander’s pristine outing gave him another entry in the postseason record books. Per ESPN Stats & Info, Scherzer and Sánchez are the only two pitchers that have held the same team hitless through 5+ innings in back-to-back games -- a feat they completed not once, but twice, as they no-hit the Red Sox through five innings in Games 1 and 2 of the 2013 ALCS and did the same to the Cardinals in the first two games of the 2019 NLCS.
Had Scherzer pulled off the no-no -- a highly improbable outcome given his high pitch count -- it would have been the third of his career and the first since 2015, when he threw two no-hitters against the Pirates and Mets in June and October, respectively.
