Washington Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer preferred not to be taken out of Friday night’s game against the Miami Marlins. So he politely asked manager Matt Williams to leave him in, and Williams respectfully obliged.
OK, not really.
Scherzer already was over the 100-pitch mark and had a runner on second base when Williams came out for a mound visit in the seventh inning. Yet the fiery pitcher made it very clear to Williams that he wasn’t going anywhere.
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It doesn’t take an expert lip reader to notice Scherzer didn’t say “please.”
Fortunately for the Nationals, Scherzer backed up his talk by getting Dee Gordon to ground out to end the inning. His outing was over after that, but Washington went on to win 5-4 in 10 innings.
There apparently were no hard feelings between Scherzer and Williams, either, as the Nationals manager joked about the meeting after the game.
“I asked him ‘do you want him?’” Williams told reporters. “He said, ‘yeah.’ Among other things. I don’t know if you can read lips.”
Thumbnail photo via Brad Mills/USA TODAY Sports Images
