Max Scherzer’s comeback in the rotation of the New York Mets on Tuesday night was a success, as he struck out the season-high 11 batsmen in six scoreless innings against the Cincinnati Reds, tying the game 0-0 on 79 pitches.
Sherzar made his debut for the Mets on May 18, when he missed his start in the sixth inning and went down the list of injured with a slanted stretch. After two minor league rehab starts (and the dog bite didn’t delay his return), Sherzer seemed to return to his normal nature in Cincinnati. His fastest ball to knock out Matt Reynolds in the second inning was 97.1 mph, which matched the fastest pitch of his season – and his fastest pitch on strike since 2020. In total, he induced 15 swings and misses, or 18.9%. On their pitches, their season rate of access to the game is at 14%.
He had no difficulty in controlling his bowling on 17 of 21 batsmen and 57 of 79 pitches, and looked much faster than his double-A rehabilitation debut for Binghamton last week, when Hartford scored three runs from him. 4 2/3 innings and several hard hitting balls. In fact, it was Scherzer’s 28th career game with at least 10 strikeouts and no walks, which saw Kurt Schilling pass in the second game of his career, just behind Randy Johnson, who had 36.
The Reds beat Seth Lugo 1-0 with a bottom-ranked ninth.
Scherzer’s return comes at the right time for the Mets rotation which has been scrambled for a while. Led by Scherzer, the Mets went 15-7 in April and the rotation posted a 2.52 ERA and kept opponents ’averages of .183 and .515 OPS. As of May 19, the rotation had a 4.92 ERA, just 23-best in the Majors, and an opposing batting average of .261 and post .765 OPS.
The Mets hope to get Jacob Degrom back soon. He began his first rehab on Sunday, hitting six of the batsmen he faced in a Class A match (attacking the one he didn’t hit) and hit 100 mph in the process.