Detroit – The Tigers had to be thinking this: Their best chance Sunday was to stay in the game long enough against ace Max Scherzer to force the Nationals to go to their battered bullpen.
When Brandon Dixon slugged Scherzer’s 93rd pitch of the game, a 95-mph fastball, into the first row of seats beyond the right field wall to tie the game 1-1 in the seventh inning, they were in position to make that happen.
Anthony Rendon foiled the plot. He slugged a solo home run to right field off reliever Joe Jimenez leading off the eighth inning, sending the Nationals and Scherzer to a 2-1 win in the rubber match of this three-game set.