Three rainouts in four days pushed Max Scherzer’s return from his 10-game foreign substance suspension back to Wednesday night. He may wish he could have avoided the mound a little longer.
The Detroit Tigers, Scherzer’s former team, hammered the New York Mets right-hander for six runs in only 3 1/3 innings in the second game of Wednesday’s doubleheader (GameTracker). Scherzer surrendered home runs to Eric Haase and Matt Vierling, and retired only 10 of the 19 batters he faced. He threw 75 pitches and struck out three.
“It all sucked,” Scherzer said Tuesday about his suspension (per Newsday). “Nothing you can do about (the three rainouts). It’s out of my control, so I can’t get mad about it.”
Scherzer was ejected from his April 19 start against the Los Angeles Dodgers after umpires found a sticky substance on his pitching hand. He claimed it was sweat and rosin and was allowed to wash his hand, though umpire Dan Bellino called Scherzer’s hand the “stickiest that it has been since I have been inspecting hands.”
Foreign substance ejections come with an automatic 10-game suspension and Scherzer declined to appeal, saying he wanted to be back in time for the Braves series. He threw a four-inning simulated game at Citi Field last week to stay sharp, though the recent rainouts kept pushing back his return. Wednesday night was the first game Scherzer was eligible to return.
Including Wednesday, the 37-year-old Scherzer owns a 5.56 ERA and 1.41 WHIP in 22 2/3 innings across five starts. He was excellent when healthy last season, pitching to a 2.29 ERA in 145 1/3 innings around a pair of oblique strains. Scherzer had a start pushed back three days by an achy back last month.
After losing the first game of Wednesday’s doubleheader (DET 6, NYM 5), the Mets are 16-14 in the early going this season.
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