Consider Tuesday night’s test in Binghamton passed by Max Scherzer, the Mets star inching ever-so-closer back to a big-league mound as he finishes the last portions of his rehab from a strained left oblique suffered last month.
The 37-year-old right-hander threw 3.1 innings on 65 pitches, allowing two runs on three hits while striking out six for the Mets’ Double-A affiliate, the Binghamton Rumble Ponies.
But most importantly for the club, he felt OK.
“I went out and accomplished what I thought I was going to do. I wanted to get four ups in, 65 pitches in,” Scherzer said. “Was able to step on a few fastballs, that was a good thing. I was able to throw all my pitches. I was able to navigate the fourth inning… and make sure I don’t get hurt.
“I was able to check all the boxes here. Came in, was also able to do a core routine after to really stress it and kind of simulate a fifth inning. So I’m checking all the boxes… Healthy. I’m healthy.”
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Scherzer continued that if his side feels good on Wednesday and Thursday, he should be able to return to the hill for the Mets on Sunday against the Miami Marlins. It will be his first start since May 18 when he suffered the injury during the sixth inning of an 11-4 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.
“He’s close,” Mets manager Buck Showalter added. “Just trying to get some of that last little soreness that he feels the next day out of there.. It’s more about Wednesday and Thursday, how he’s feeling afterward because Max will be very honest and frank with us.”
Showalter added on Wednesday that Scherzer is up for consideration to start in Miami.
This was the first time in the three-time Cy Young Award winner’s career that he had an extended stint on the injured list, which only thinned a Mets rotation that was already without Jacob deGrom and Tylor Megill at the time.
While Megill had returned since then, he lasted only two starts before being shut down for four weeks due to a shoulder issue.
New York’s ace, deGrom, threw a live batting practice for the first time since spring training on Tuesday, providing a further suggestion that the Mets’ vaunted pitching rotation is returning to full strength soon.
“So eager. I want to get back there so bad,” Scherzer said. “Put in all this work, you see the team playing great baseball, you want to be out there competing and winning with them. I want to be in the big leagues, not be a Rumble Pony.
