LOS ANGELES, United States— Los Angeles hurler Max Scherzer flirted with
perfection on Sunday as he became the 19th Major League
Baseball pitcher to
record 3,000 career strikeouts in the Dodgers 8-0 victory over the San Diego
Padres.
اضافة اعلان
Scherzer, 37, reached
the 3,000 strikeout milestone when he fanned Eric Hosmer on a full-count
changeup for the second out of the fifth inning.
But it would be
Hosmer who broke up Scherzer's bid for a rare perfect game with one out in the
eighth inning. Hosmer belted a changeup to the rightfield warning track — out
of the reach of speedy outfielder Mookie Betts — for a double.
That ended Scherzer's
bid for MLB's first perfect game since Seattle's Felix Hernandez threw the 23rd
perfect on August 15, 2012.
The nine-year drought
without a perfect game — in which a pitcher retires every batter he faces — is
the longest in the major leagues since the dry spell from 1968–1981.
But Scherzer had
plenty to celebrate even without a perfect game or the third no-hitter of his
career.
He joined former
teammate Justin Verlander as the only active pitchers to reach 3,000
strikeouts.
He needed just 66
pitches to record six perfect innings — that included striking out the side on
nine pitches in the second for the third "immaculate inning" of his
career.
Scherzer, a
three-time Cy Young Award winner, is now in the hunt for a fourth award for the
league's top pitcher.
He is 6-0 in eight
starts as a
Dodger with a 0.88 earned run average and 71 strikeouts in 51
innings.
His ERA for the
season is a major league-leading 2.17, a smidge in front of Milwaukee's Corbin
Burnes (2.25) and Dodgers’ teammate Walker Buehler (2.32).
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