In all of the games we’ve seen this season, the effort put forth by Max Scherzer on Wednesday night is one of the more remarkable feats so far. One of Detroit’s two homers on Wednesday came on the fastball, but nonetheless, the pitch was a clear strength for Scherzer, who threw it for strikes (51 of 62) and got plenty of swings and misses on it (18, a season high). The fifth major league pitcher to strike out so many (Tom Cheney of the Washington Senators struck out 21 in an extra-inning game in 1962 and Randy Johnson had 20 in 2001 in a 10-inning game).
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While Strasburg was on the mound in the series opener against Detroit, word emerged that the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 amateur draft had agreed to a $175 million, seven-year contract. He struck out Iglesias to set a Nationals Park record with 16 strikeouts. That’s special. How many times they do that in the big leagues? Max Scherzer also faced the Tigers for the first time since he signed with the Nationals in 2015.
“Had to go through some tough, tough hitters there with Miggy and J.D. and Victor and all those guys over there”, Scherzer said. Jordan Zimmerman, who was a star pitcher for the Nationals and came to Detroit this year, gave up three runs through seven innings, and generally pitched extremely well.
Zimmermann returned home – he spent the first six seasons of his career with the Nationals – and Scherzer faced his former teammates.
The downside of so regularly targeting the hitting zone is that Scherzer allowed two solo home runs, rare blemishes on otherwise dominant night. But Scherzer then struck out Miguel Cabrera, allowed a single to Victor Martinez, whiffed Justin Upton and got James McCann on a grounder to end the contest.
It was the first time since September 12, 2011 that two pitchers who had won at least 70 games for the opposing teams met. Roy Oswalt pitched for the Philadelphia Phillies that night against Brett Myers of the Houston Astros.
Granted, he also has 66 strikeouts in 52 innings, which should allay any potential concerns.
In Los Angeles, New York’s Noah Syndergaard became the second pitcher in team history to hit two home runs in a game.
According to Elias Sports Bureau research, Scherzer’s 20 strikeouts are the most by any pitcher against his former team. Harper appealed the punishment, so he was able to play Wednesday.
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GIANTS 5, BLUE JAYS 4, 13 innings (at San Francisco) – Buster Posey walked with the bases loaded in the 13th inning and the Giants salvaged one win in a three-game series with Toronto.
