When the Los Angeles Dodgers acquired Max Scherzer in a blockbuster trade with the Washington Nationals at the end of July, it accomplished their goal of adding another frontline starting pitcher to a rotation that had been decimated by injuries.
Scherzer has helped anchor the group in a big way thus far, allowing no more than two runs in any of his first seven starts with the organization.
The future Hall of Famer enjoyed what was arguably his best outing since arriving to L.A., giving up only one unearned run and collecting 13 strikeouts in eight innings against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Scherzer now needs just six strikeouts to reach 3,000 for his career, a feat that only 18 other pitchers have accomplished.
“That’s a huge milestone and something I’ll be proud of, but that’s just a part of the process of durability and going out there and executing gameplans,” Scherzer said of his imminent achievement.
“It’s great to go out there and get strikeouts, but it’s more important to go out there and pitch well and locate well strikeouts are a part of the process of going out there and executing pitches.
“When you have opportunities to get strikeouts, I always want to, because I don’t want the ball in play. Anything can happen when the ball is in play. As long as I’m attacking the zone and working ahead in the zone, that’s my gameplan.”
Scherzer is one of the most methodical pitchers in baseball, so it’s no surprise he places a greater emphasis on the process over the results he gets.
The right-hander’s approach has translated to an unbelievable start with the Dodgers as he’s posted a perfect 5-0 record, 1.05 ERA, 1.33 FIP and 0.77 WHIP in 43 innings pitched.
Scherzer next will take the mound in the series finale against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium in which he is likely to etch his name in the record book.
Scherzer exploited Cardinals’ approach, shadows at Busch Stadium
Scherzer explained how he used the Cardinals’ tendency to swing early in the count, as well as the shadows at Busch Stadium, to his advantage.
“Their approach was to come out early swinging. I could feel that, so talked with Barnesy and Prior mid-game about needing to make a couple adjustments early of how we wanted to attack them, given we had a 4-0 lead,” he explained.
“From that point it was just change the sequence a little bit to account for their aggressiveness. Once you’re able to account for their aggressiveness, then execute with two strikes. It takes all the execution of every single pitch you’ve got, and you’ve got to be focused and know what you want to do with the baseball.
“Fortunately we were able to get some strikeouts in big situations. That’s what allowed me to pitch deep into the game. … Once the shadows start creeping in, that’s when you want to try to get to the offspeed as much as possible because it’s tough to see in those situations. Just worked with Barnesy back there, we had a good gameplan of what we wanted to do.
“This is always a tough stadium with the shadows because it gets into my eyes as well, so you really have to rely on feel. Your eyes are always in the sun with the way this stadium is set up, so you’ve got to trust your feel when you’re pitching here with shadows.
“You know you want to come in and you know you want to be aggressive with offspeed, because it’s really tough to see. Our guys were talking about that as well.
“They were having a tough time seeing the ball and there were line drives hit that guys were not able to see the ball. You know if the infielders are dealing with it, our hitters are dealing with it, just go out there and use it to your advantage.”
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