Katie Stratman-USA TODAY Sports
Max Scherzer is back. And he may be better than ever.
In his first start for the Mets since May 18, Scherzer turned in an epic performance, one that saw him strike out a season-high 11 batters. In six very strong shutout innings, he allowed just two hits and no walks, along with hitting one batter.
“I felt great. No issues whatsoever today, felt strong,” said Scherzer. “I was able to locate the fastball, but most importantly, I felt that I had a really good slider tonight.”
Out of the rotation for the past six weeks with an oblique injury, Max showed no signs of rust. He reached a peak velocity of 97.1 miles per hour on his four-seam fastball, and averaged just a hair under 90 mph on all his pitches in this start. Notably, Scherzer produced a ridiculous 78% called strike + whiff rate on his slider, a pitch he threw 23 times last night.
The Reds that did get on base against Scherzer didn’t do much damage at all. Cincinnati recorded just two hits off the three-time NL Cy Young winner, neither of which went for extra bases.
Scherzer completed his six innings of work on just 79 pitches, just shy of the 80 pitches he threw in his final rehab start with Double A Binghamton. While he ultimately left the game with a no-decision, this start will undoubtedly go down as a highlight in his Mets tenure.
Despite this loss, Scherzer remains more than optimistic about the team moving forward.
“We’re playing great baseball and getting contributions from everyone on the team,” he said following the Mets 1-0 loss. “To be on top, you’ve got to be consistent. You got to be good the whole year.”
His season ERA now sits at 2.26. Of his nine starts, Scherzer has struck out 10+ batters in three of them.
Scherzer is next scheduled to pitch in Sunday’s series finale versus Miami. He aims to reach the 90-95 pitch count in his next outing.
