Washington Nationals ace Max Scherzer bolstered his case for the National League Cy Young Award, striking out 10 batters Tuesday night to give him an even 300 on the season.

With the fans at Nationals Park cheering him on, Scherzer finished off Miami Marlins left fielder Austin Dean with a 3-2 slider in the top of the seventh inning for the milestone whiff, making him just the sixth pitcher since 1990 to hit the 300 mark.

He joins some pretty good company in the 300-K club: Randy Johnson (six times), Curt Schilling (three), Pedro Martinez (2), Clayton Kershaw and, last season, Chris Sale.

“It was something I dreamed of, reaching this mark,” Scherzer said, “because I know how hard it is to consistently go out there and strike guys out.”

Scherzer is bidding to win his third consecutive NL Cy Young Award, but will face challenges from Jacob deGrom of the New York Mets and Aaron Nola of the Philadelphia Phillies, among others.

The Nationals right-hander has put up impressive stats once again. He was removed after completing the seventh inning and allowing only one run on five hits, in addition to the 10 strikeouts.

As the Nationals went on defeat the Marlins, Scherzer picked up his league-leading 18th win and lowered his season ERA to 2.53.

“I definitely wanted to do it here at home,” Scherzer said of reaching the 300-K mark. “The fans – unbelievable support.”

Nola has 16 wins, 216 K's, a slightly lower 2.45 ERA and the advantage in Baseball-Reference.com's Wins Above Replacement (9.8).

DeGrom sports an amazing 1.77 ERA – the lowest since Kershaw in 2014 – and a 9.1 bWAR, but because of the Mets' lack of run support only has nine wins.

Follow Gardner on Twitter @SteveAGardner

Contributing: Associated Press