prior to the 2018 season, "sports illustrated" graded scherzer as the top pitcher, and fourth-best overall player in baseball, following trout, josé altuve, and kris bryant. in his first 98 starts with the nationals from 2015–17, scherzer accumulated the most innings, strikeouts, and pitching war. he initiated a contest with at least five hitless innings 11 times, including successfully concluding two no-hitters. he made his third opening day start for washington and struck out seven consecutive cincinnati reds batters on the way to a 2−0 win. his ten batters struck out overall set a club opening day record. while playing atlanta on april 9, he pilfered his first career base in the seventh inning, versus pitcher peter moylan and catcher kurt suzuki. on the mound, scherzer gained a complete game shutout, the fifth of his career. he struck out 10 and allowed two hits and no walks. he earned the nl pitcher of the month award in april while leading the league in strikeouts (57) and wins (4), and ranking fourth in each of era (1.62), whip (0.82) and opposing batting average (.165).