A great many Nats fans — and a great many others — were furious with Pittsburgh’s Jose Tabata for breaking up Max Scherzer’s perfect game with a hit-by-pitch Saturday evening.
Let’s quickly review. There were two outs in the top of the ninth. Scherzer had faced (and retired) 26 straight Pirates, and Tabata — a pinch hitter — was down to his final strike. The Nats ace was attempting to become just the 24th man to throw a perfect game in Major League Baseball history, and both the Nationals Park crowd and a growing television audience were waiting to see history.
A Scherzer slider then hit Tabata’s left arm. Just like that, history vanished, and the second-guessing began. Some thought Tabata actually leaned into the pitch. Others thought he at the very least did not attempt to avoid it. And, given the circumstances, a whole lot of people found Tabata’s actions lacking class.
It takes a truly despicable person to lean into a pitch with his elbow pad during a perfect game.
— Luke Russert (@LukeRussert) June 20, 2015Tabata leaned into that pitch to break up the perfect game. Bush league move.
— Seth Davis (@SethDavisHoops) June 20, 2015Ump should have called Tabata for purposely getting hit. Bullcrap way to spoil the perfecto.
— Peter King (@peter_king) June 20, 2015Guessing Jose Tabata is on the phone ordering full-body armor in preparation for his next plate appearance against the Nationals.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) June 20, 2015On slow-mo replay of Tabata HBP, he moved 1" toward ball imo. My headline might be: Scherzer perfect game "broken up" by ump Mike Muchlinski
— Thomas Boswell (@ThomasBoswellWP) June 20, 2015And so, was Scherzer fuming? Did he blame Tabata for ruining his flirtation with immortality? Did he want a pound of Pirate flesh as compensation? Most importantly, did he agree with the mob that thought Tabata intentionally leaned in?
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“No,” Scherzer said on ESPN. “It was a slider that just backed up, and it hit him. I don’t blame him for doing it. I mean, heck, I’d probably do the same thing. So it was just a pitch that got away from me, and it hit him. And then I just recuperate and just focus on getting the next guy, and I was able to do that.”
[The Internet was mad at Jose Tabata]
The ESPN anchor responded almost incredulously, asking Scherzer if he had seen a replay of the incident.
“I haven’t seen it, but when I released [the pitch] — and I could see once I looked up where the location was on it — I knew I had left it in,” Scherzer said. “And that’s just part of baseball. Those things happen.”
This wasn’t just a one-off response, either. Because in an appearance with SiriusXM’s MLB Network Radio, Scherzer dispensed an identical message. He was asked about his approach on that 27th batter.
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“You just try to pound them with fastballs and finish them with offspeed, and he just put a good [at-bat] against me,” Scherzer said. “I was coming with my best fastball at the top of the zone, and he kept fouling it off. So just credit to him for the at-bat he put on me.”
Host Jeff Joyce then suggested that it looked like Tabata had “leaned into it a little bit,” and asked for Scherzer’s perspective.
“It was a slider that was in,” Scherzer said. “I kind of lost a little control over it; it backed up on me. I have no qualms about it whatever. That’s just baseball. He did what he needed to do. So kudos to him, actually.”
To recap: Scherzer had a chance to record a legendary MLB accomplishment. He was foiled at the last moment by a hit batter — the first time a perfect game had ended like that, after 26 batters, in more than a century. He had plenty of media backing if he wanted to accuse Tabata of dirty pool.
And Scherzer’s response? “Kudos to him, actually.”
Hooks Wiltse lost a perfect game with one out to go in 1908 with a HBP. Only other time.
— Thomas Boswell (@ThomasBoswellWP) June 20, 2015(Vine via @bencelestino)
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