Rangers Beat Nationals 5-1 To Sweep Weekend Series
WASHINGTON (AP) — Max Scherzer struck out 10 to move past 2,000 for his career, but was outpitched by Austin Bibens-Dirkx and the Texas Rangers beat the Washington Nationals 5-1 on Sunday for a sweep of their weekend series.
Scherzer (7-4) has 2,005 career strikeouts after fanning at least 10 batters 10 times this season. He allowed three runs — two earned — and three hits in 7 1/3 innings.
By the end of the eighth, the Rangers had rallied on just one hit, aided by an error and a passed ball.
Bibens-Dirkx (2-0) allowed a run and three hits in seven innings in his second career start. The 32-year-old rookie retired 19 straight after Brian Goodwin's first career leadoff homer and a single by Bryce Harper.
Shin-Soo Choo slugged his 10th homer and second in as many games as Texas completed its first road sweep of the season.
Scherzer reached the 2,000 mark when he got Nomar Mazara swinging a 1-2 slider that tailed inside to open the fourth inning.
He struck out the side in the fifth and cruised until the eighth, when he exited after Delino DeShields reached on third baseman Anthony Rendon's error and Jurickson Profar walked.
Oliver Perez walked Choo to load the bases. DeShields scored on Matt Wieters' passed ball. Elvis Andrus hit a two-run triple and scored on Mazara's sacrifice fly.
Bibens-Dirkx was sailing along before Rendon singled in the seventh. Adam Lind followed with a walk. After a visit from pitching coach Doug Brocail, Bibens-Dirkx got Wieters to ground out to end the threat.
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