Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
Though he ended up getting credited with the loss, Max Scherzer was dominant once again on Sunday afternoon against the Colorado Rockies.
Scherzer threw seven innings, giving up just one earned run on four hits and one walk. He struck out 11 over the course of a season-high 112 pitches thrown (81 for strikes). Unfortunately, the one run was enough to give the Rockies the win, however, as the Mets bats went down silent on Sunday, providing no run support for their starter.
Scherzer dominated the first six innings he threw on Sunday. He gave up just one hit in the first inning and had nine strikeouts through six innings of shutout baseball. With the game tied after six, Buck Showalter sent his all-star starter back at to the mound for a seventh inning of work, and that’s when Scherzer showed his first true signs of struggle, but also showed the grit and fight that he has in him, along with the control and composure he keeps on the mound when he gets in jams.
Scherzer gave up three back-to-back singles in the top of the seventh to load the bases with no outs. He then retired the next three batters he faced; however one was a sacrifice fly to Brian Serven that scored C.J. Cron to give the Rockies a 1-0 lead that they did not relinquish as they came away with the 1-0 win over the Mets in the series finale.
Scherzer came away with the loss, falling to 9-4 on the season, but he also lowered his ERA to 2.27 on the season.
Scherzer was overall happy with his outing.
“Did a lot of good things today… Came out today with a good tempo, I felt like that would get me in line. And then around the fourth inning is where I started locating the baseball and working well with McCann.” Scherzer elaborated and said he didn’t have his best cutter or slider on Sunday, but that he was able to make pitches when he needed to.
“I felt good today,” said Scherzer. “I picked up the tempo and that locked me in.”
Scherzer said after an extra day of rest coming into the outing that Sunday was a good time to push his pitch count. “This was a good time to push the pitch count, get something over 100 pitches. The game unfolded that way, and I wanted to be in that situation. It’s good for your arm to experience that pitch count.” Coming off 112 pitches, Scherzer reiterated that he feels good and that his arm feels good coming out of the outing. “It allows you to build stamina and feel good throughout the rest of the season,” he told media.
Scherzer also credited his catcher, James McCann for calling a good game and good sequences throughout. “Good job with James behind the plate today,” said Scherzer in praise of his catcher.
Scherzer also walked away with a historic milestone. With his 11-strikeout outing, he tied Roger Clemens for the third-most career starts with 10 or more strikeouts. But that wasn’t Scherzer’s focus.
“These things are great, those milestones are great, don’t get me wrong,” said Scherzer. “But I’m more focused on winning with the team. We’ve got bigger and better things to do.” Scherzer said during the offseason is when he takes more time to appreciate the milestones and accomplishments he had throughout the season.
