Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY

Moments after the Mets completed a 4-1 victory over the Braves to take the first game in a three-game set in Atlanta, manager Buck Showalter described Mets ace Max Scherzer simply and succinctly. “He’s a difference-maker,” Showalter said. Indeed, Scherzer made all the difference in the world on Monday.

Battling Braves ace Max Fried, Scherzer was locked in from the get-go, striking out two Braves in a clean first inning. Scherzer struck out another in a clean second, before allowing old friend Robinson Canó to reach on a single to right field with two outs in the third inning. Scherzer responded by striking out Ronald Acuña Jr. to end the third inning, before retiring the next eleven Braves in order.

Scherzer looked completely unhittable until Braves third basemen Austin Riley took him deep for a solo home run with two outs in the seventh inning. With the Mets’ slim 2-0 lead abruptly cut in half by Riley’s heroics, fans having flashbacks to painful losses at old Turner Field would have been forgiven for their lack of faith–especially after Marcell Ozuna followed with a double to place the tying run in scoring position.

But the wily Mets ace found a way out of the inning with Scherzer striking out Eddie Rosario on a filthy slider that broke out of the zone and under Rosario’s bat. Scherzer’s patented intensity was on full display after the punchout of Rosario, as the righty pumped his fist and let out a roar as he left the mound.

Despite being mere weeks away from his 38th birthday, Scherzer showed how much he has left in the tank on Monday, completing seven innings, allowing only three hits, one run, and striking out nine Braves hitters in a lineup that had been scorching hot for the better part of six weeks coming into the night. In all, Scherzer threw 93 pitches, 67 which went for strikes. The Braves swung and missed at a whopping 21 of Scherzer’s pitches, good for a sterling 38% whiff rate on the night. Scherzer’s slider and cutter were particularly effective against the potent Braves lineup, as Braves hitters registered a 50% whiff rate on those pitches.

He’s now allowed just one run in 13 innings since returning from his oblique injury.

After the game, Scherzer credited his rapport with Tomás Nido for his success, before indicating that the execution of his fastball was a key to his performance. “Locating that fastball up, down, in, out… that was allowing me to set up my offspeed pitches,” he said. Scherzer was generally happy with his offspeed pitches as well, though he did think he hung a few sliders that “could have been homers.”

Responding to a question about the importance of the game, Scherzer did not shy away from the spotlight.

“We’re in the second half here. You want to play good baseball, especially this time of year,” Scherzer said, before calling Monday’s game a “measuring stick win.” Still, Scherzer tried to keep the game in perspective, noting it was “just one game in July,” and that the Mets “have to play well” against every team, and not just Atlanta, to end the regular season where they want to in the standings.

One thing is certain: ending the season atop the NL East standings will be a lot easier if the Mets’ soon-to-be 38-year-old difference-maker keeps pitching every fifth day.