Ausmus has had a front-row seat for K history

WASHINGTON — Brad Ausmus had seen this before.

As a young catcher in Detroit, he was the 18th of Roger Clemens’ 20 strikeouts at Tiger Stadium on Sept. 18, 1996, though he also had one of Detroit’s five hits off him.

As an Astros catcher, he had the sixth and 18th strikeouts Kerry Wood recorded in his record-tying performance at Wrigley Field on May 6, 1998.

His view of Max Scherzer’s 20-strikeout performance on Wednesday night was a little different, as he watched from the visitors’ dugout at Nationals Park, trying to manage the Tigers into an opportunity in the eventual 3-2 loss. He couldn’t grab a bat and step to the plate against Scherzer, but he had more control over the game.

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His appreciation was much the same.

“That’s one of the most dominant performances I’ve ever come across,” Ausmus said. “It wasn’t quite as dominant as Kerry Wood, and it was more dominant than Clemens.”

In …

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