Even the greats like Max Scherzer can overthink things at times.
The Mets’ co-ace rediscovered his top-notch stuff on Tuesday night down in Houston, shutting down the Astros with a stellar eight-inning performance in which he allowed just one run on four hits with eight strikeouts.
He rode his repaired slider in the process — which prompted seven of his 15 whiffs against Astros batters — after it was hammered for a pair of home runs last week in his nightmare 3.1-inning start against the New York Yankees in which he yielded six runs on seven hits.
“This was an interesting one,” the 38-year-old righty began (h/t SNY). “After the [June 7 start against the Atlanta Braves], I didn’t like where my changeup was at. I made a little tweak to my changeup and I felt like I found [it]. I just applied that little adjustment to my slider, but that adjustment to the slider screwed everything up for the Yankees start. I went back and undid that change and that’s it.
“It’s really stupid and simple at the end of the day.”
With it, Scherzer appears to be back on track after those pair of previous concerning starts.
In nine innings against the Braves and Yankees, he allowed 11 earned runs on 18 hits, which skyrocketed his 2023 ERA to 4.45 — a number even more concerning when considering the Mets have been starved for consistent pitching.
“For him to go eight innings, that was pretty special in a lot of ways,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said, citing the night off it gave the bullpen. “It was good to see. He had three pitches he could go to and change some shapes on them. A lot of strikes, a lot of early outs.”
Moving forward, Scherzer said that he’s abandoning that initial tweak to his changeup and learning to throw it from the same arm path as his slider, which evidently is the straw that stirs the drink that is the future Hall of Famer’s arsenal.
“When I can pitch with that pitch, it allows me to use the other pitches well,” he said.
