Mahle, backed by HRs, outduels Scherzer

For the Reds to rebound from a poor homestand and also buck their trend of futility against Nationals ace Max Scherzer on Tuesday, it wouldn't just take some key hits. Their own starting pitcher, Tyler Mahle, and the relievers who followed would have to be just about mistake free as well.

Mission accomplished. Mahle held up his end of the bargain with 5 1/3 scoreless innings, and Tejay Antone was brilliant with 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. Solo home runs by Kyle Farmer and Eugenio Suárez against Scherzer helped secure a 2-1 Cincinnati win.

"You probably don’t lose on one solo shot, but tonight I got beat on two solo shots. I got outpitched, that’s just the way it went," said Scherzer, who struck out nine batters over seven innings. "Even though I had a lot of good stuff tonight, I did a lot of things right, Mahle came in and threw better than me tonight."

Scherzer came in 5-0 with a 1.06 ERA and 55 strikeouts in five starts against the Reds since he joined Washington in 2015. Leading off the top of the third inning, Farmer jumped on a first-pitch fastball for a line-drive homer to left field.

In the fifth inning, Suárez lifted a 1-1 changeup from Scherzer for a leadoff homer to right-center field.

The rest was up to the pitchers.

Mahle was touched up for seven earned runs and seven hits in two-plus innings in his last start during a 19-4 thumping vs. the Giants on Thursday as the Reds endured a 1-6 homestand. He put that disappointment behind him as he retired 10 of his first 11 batters before Josh Bell notched Washington's first hit in the fourth inning. Mahle finished with three hits and one walk allowed with two strikeouts.

Statcast registered only four Nationals whiffs among Mahle's 94 pitches. But he was aggressive in the strike zone and kept the very hard contact to a minimum. The overall average exit velocity of contact against him was 90.7 mph.

"Yeah, that was huge," Mahle said. "Strikeouts are really fun and I definitely sometimes try to miss bats, but if they’re swinging and making soft contact and keeping it in the infield, then our guys are back there making plays, I’ll take that every game."

With one out in the sixth inning, Juan Soto fought off Mahle's 97 mph fastball up and in for a single to left field. Manager David Bell went to his most effective reliever, Antone, and the move worked perfectly.

Antone threw one pitch to Bell and got him to ground to second base for an inning-ending double play.

“The curveball baby, the hook! The hook got him! I don’t know why he was swinging, first pitch," Antone said. "I didn’t expect that at all. I was just trying to land a strike and he swung at it and it went to the ground. That’s where you want it to go when you’ve got a guy on first base and one out. You couldn’t ask for a better result right there.”

Over 15 appearances, Antone has a 1.73 ERA. Although he is referred to by some as a "midgame closer" or "Swiss Army knife" type of pitcher, Bell generally avoids applying role names to his relievers. He tries to match the pitcher to the situation at hand.

On Tuesday, Bell was using his best reliever in the biggest situation.

"That couldn’t have gone any better," Bell said. "To expect him to get us to the ninth is a big ask. I think when he came in right there and got a double-play ball, it was a big play in that inning, but it really gave him an opportunity to go that deep into the game. That was a big play in the game."

Antone held the Nationals hitless and scoreless in the seventh and eighth innings without a ball ever leaving the infield. There was a one-out walk in the eighth that didn't bite him later as the inning ended with Trea Turner striking out on a slider outside the strike zone.

“I could kind of feel myself unraveling a little bit. It was like the spray was starting to get bigger," Antone said. "I was like, ‘Oh gosh. Really buckle down right here and make these pitches.’ That’s why, honestly, I was so pumped to get a swing on a pitch that I didn’t quite execute how I wanted."

The lone Washington run to score came on Josh Bell's homer off Amir Garrett with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning. Garrett wasn't specifically in the game to close. It was to face two lefties with a switch-hitter in between.

Lucas Sims faced the final batter, Starlin Castro, and got the save with a groundout to third base.

"Put me in or put them in, it doesn’t matter," Antone said. "We’re all going to get outs.”