Max Scherzer took a perfect game into the eighth inning on Sunday as the Los Angeles Dodgers blanked the San Diego Padres 8-0, completing a weekend series sweep. Before being pulled from the game, Scherzer threw eight full scoreless innings allowing just the one hit while striking out nine batters.
In the bid for his third career no-hitter, Scherzer allowed a double early in the eighth inning to Eric Hosmer down the right field line that Betts had no chance of tracking down. He threw 92 pitches and did not allow a walk.
Scherzer’s effort lessened his ERA to a league-leading 2.17, surpassing Corbin Burnes of the Milwaukee Brewers, who had a bid for a no-hitter of his own against the Indians on Saturday. Scherzer is among the frontrunners for the 2021 Cy Young Award. His next Cy Young would be his fourth.
The Dodgers have gone 8-0 this season in games that Scherzer has started.
Los Angeles got all the offense they needed from Corey Seager’s solo homer in the fourth inning, but the team primarily used the long ball to pile on seven more runs.
Mookie Betts added a solo shot in the fifth inning to stretch the lead to two runs. The blast to left was his 21st of the year. Since moving back to the leadoff spot last Thursday, Betts has gone 5-for-12 with two homers and five RBI.
Max Muncy doubled to right field in the seventh inning to plate Gavin Lux, but the big offensive blow came two batters later when Justin Turner launched a three-run blast to left-center field.
Perhaps the biggest highlight of the game came in the fifth inning when Scherzer punched out out Hosmer to record his 3000th career strikeout. Besides Justin Verlander, Scherzer is the only active MLB pitcher to have reached the 3000K milestone.
Making his third-straight start in left field for the Dodgers, Lux went 2-for-2 with a walk, increasing his 2021 average to .230.
Justin Bruihl threw a perfect ninth for Los Angeles to seal the victory.
Dinelson Lamet took the loss for the Padres. Lefty starter Blake Snell was removed from the game in the first inning after an apparent groin injury.
The Dodgers kept pace in the NL West with the San Francisco Giants, who completed their own weekend sweep of the Cubs. After the dust settled on Sunday’s MLB schedule, Los Angeles trails San Francisco by 2.5 games with 18 remaining. The Giants have won seven straight games.
The Dodgers begin a three-game series against the Diamondbacks on Monday. Clayton Kershaw will return to the mound to make his first start since July 3.
Think Blue Planning Committee 
Wow. Lux has 4 straight hits and bellinger is 1 for september!. We’re now on a roll. Good weekend against the pads (also known as the 60 game wonders).
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They sent Lux down and perhaps he fixed his issues and got a clue. He fouled off some good pitches the other night and then doubled. Lux so far has made contact and controlled his zone. Bellinger looks as hopeless as ever. Why do some people think that Shazaam! And Bellinger’s back to 2019 is beyond me. Getting a hit in garbage time does not mean he is back.
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I’ve noticed that Lux isn’t acting like a prankster or jokester since his return. It’s appears that he’s not focusing much on his popularity as much as before.
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He seems to be paying attention. Lux is young. He has a good chance to develop into a good player both offensively and defensively. He squared a ball up from a lefty to start a rally tonight. Nice piece of hitting. My complaint on Lux has been giving him too much rope when he was floundering. Most of the season he was hapless against left handed pitching. Just like Bellinger they have left him to fail miserably. If Bellinger is hurt rehab him if he has huge issues with his stance and approach send him down and make him change. They control him for two more years.
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After sweeping the Pads, we had better not let down against the D’backs. SD is a mess right now, both physcally and probably emotionally after being swept and losing their best starter to injury. That said, SD is still a tougher opponent for SF than the Cubs were. We need to pick up a little ground during the next 3 games.
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Yeah, we play 3 and they play 4, so that 1/2 game is going to go away on Thursday. We sweep, they lose 2 of 4, we will be in good shape because they play Atlanta after the Padres and LA is at Cincy. That was one of the best pitching performances I have seen by a Dodger pitcher in years. His defense made some good plays behind him. Especially the outfielders who were fighting the sun all day. Mad Max is one hell of a pitcher. And right now, the leading candidate for the Cy Young. A couple more performances like that and his ERA could conceivably drop below 2.
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