Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

There was serious déjà-vu for Max Scherzer on Monday night against the Astros.

The Mets scored five runs in the top of the third inning, giving their ace a comfortable 5-0 lead to work with early on. It was eerily similar to his last start against the Yankees, where had a 5-1 lead going into the fourth.

In his last start, no amount of runs was enough for Scherzer. He coughed up five runs against the Yankees in the frame, surrendering the Mets’ lead and consequentially their 7-6 loss.

However, Monday night was different. Scherzer established his slider right out the gate, striking out Jose Altuve for the first out of the game. The 38-year-old was missing his put-away pitch in his last start and gave up two home runs off hanging sliders in only 3 1/3 innings pitched.

By the time the Mets handed Scherzer a 5-0 lead on Monday, he had already struck out three batters with his vintage slider. He continued to use the pitch to retire the Astros side in the bottom of the third, inducing two line outs from  Jake Meyers and Martín Maldonado.

Scherzer took over the game from there. The former Tiger pitched eight innings, striking out 8 batters and walking only one on 91 pitches. Out of the eight strikeouts Scherzer recorded, six came via the slider. Batters swung and missed at his slider seven times out of 18 swings (39%), one of his higher marks of the season. If he hung a slider, the Astros missed it, but even those came less frequently.

His only blemish was a Yanier Diaz solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning which was hit off a slider.

If Scherzer is going to succeed in the future, he needs to replicate his slider from Monday night. In 2022, batters only hit .183 and slugged .232 against the eight-time All-Star’s slider. However, in 2023, batters are hitting .293 against the pitch, and slugging .621. This has drastically impacted Scherzer’s ability to get outs. After recording a 31.3% put-away rate with the slider in 2022, Scherzer has sat at a 23.6% rate with the pitch in 2023.

There is, however, hope that Scherzer’s slider will return. After the game, Scherzer gave a concrete answer to why his slider had faltered in his last start against the Yankees.

“After the Atlanta start, I didn’t like where my changeup was at, so I made a little tweak to my changeup and I felt like I found my changeup, so I made that little tweak to my slider. I just went back and undid that change. That’s it.”

Steve Gelbs followed by asking if Scherzer had kept the adjustment to his changeup in the start against the Astros, to which Scherzer answered by saying no.

The pitch adjustment came at the right time, as Monday night was a desperately needed start from Scherzer. The future Hall of Famer had allowed 11 earned runs over his last two starts, resulting in losses to the Yankees and Braves. This season has been a struggle overall for Scherzer, who has allowed five earned runs or more in four starts. He didn’t allow more than four in a start in 2022.

Hopefully, Scherzer has turned a corner for the Mets. New York is 12.5 games back from first place in the NL East, and five games back from the last NL Wild Card spot. The Mets season hangs on the shoulder of Scherzer and Justin Verlander, who have both dealt with inconsistencies in 2023.

However, the Mets will have to wait and see with the waning superstar. Scherzer appeared to be over his early season struggles against Philadelphia on June 1, when he struck out nine batters and allowed one run over seven innings. But he then regressed by allowing five earned runs to the Braves. His next start his should come on Sunday versus the Phillies.