St. Louis at Washington

Max Scherzer allowed two runs and four hits in 6 2/3 innings in a 7-6 win at Philadelphia on Friday. Scherzer struck out seven and walked only two batters before the bullpen almost blew the game. The right-hander obviously has recovered from a finger injury that plagued him in spring training. Scherzer was 8-3 with a 2.56 ERA at home last season and had an opponent batting average of .146 against St. Louis in 14 innings overall. The Cardinals are off to a 2-6 start and lost again last night as the Nationals banged out 11 hits and Daniel Murphy went four-for-five. Mike Leake had a strong performance against Cincinnati, allowing one run in eight innings although the Cardinals wound up losing 2-0. However, Leake is coming off a 9-12 season with a 4.69 ERA and he was 0-3 and 5.83 last year in the month of April. Leake gave up seven runs and 12 hits in 14 innings versus Washington in 2016. Take the Nationals.