Max Scherzer's Texas Rangers Debut Showcases Bona Fides
ARLINGTON, Texas –Max Scherzer almost relished his Thursday afternoon struggles.
In his Texas Rangers debut, the three-time Cy Young winner battled through a three-run first inning and a hectic second, before taking control for the next four innings in a 5-3 win over the Chicago White Sox.
"Sometimes these are almost my favorite starts, when you’re getting kind of beaten around there but you settle in and catch a rhythm and you’re able to pitch deep into a ballgame," said Scherzer, who struck out nine and walked two (both in the first inning) over six innings. "That’s what I'm most happy about; I finished strong."
Finishing strong is what the Rangers (63-46) are hoping to do with Scherzer leading the rotation down the stretch. Texas leads the Houston Astros by 1 1/2 games in the AL West. The Rangers open a three-game series against the Miami Marlins at 7:05 p.m. Friday at Globe Life Field.
Left-hander Jordan Montgomery, another trade deadline acquisition for the Rangers, makes his first start for the club.
Scherzer not only had to work around two, first-inning walks, but also three hits with less than 81 mph exit velocity. Two of the hits, in fact, were sub-64 mph. Rangers catcher Mitch Garver, who along with Marcus Semien, homered in the game, views a hard-hit baseball to be 95 mph or more.
"It’s just a part of the game. These are major league hitters, they drive nice cars too," Scherzer said of the softly-hit singles. "They’re gonna get hits off you, and sometimes they’re gonna get bleeding hits off of you. You can’t cry about it. You have to go out there and continue to do your job."
That's what he did. After allowing six hits in the first two innings, Scherzer held the White Sox to one baserunner (a fourth-inning single) over his final four innings.
Of the seven hits he allowed, five had an exit velocity of less than 90 mph. The other two had exit velos of 93.9 and 99 mph.
"Life’s easy when you can go seven or eight innings and they’re hitting the balls at people and you’re striking people out," he said. "That’s when life is easy as a pitcher when things break your way. But you find out about yourself when things don’t break your way."
Once he got rolling, Scherzer said, he was able to execute the pitch sequences he and Garver had gameplanned.
"I was in the dugout ‘saying don’t panic, don’t panic, you’re OK,'" Scherzer said. "'They’re not blasting you, they’re not hitting home runs. It’s not the execution of pitches, they’re just finding holes right now.'"
He was forced to throw 56 pitches over the first two innings, which included a quick bottom of the first inning, which put him right back on the mound. He finally had his legs under him after a 1-2-3 third.
"I know how to pitch. I know how to execute. This would have been a completely different conversation if those first hits are outs," he said. "But, they’re not. So what are you going to do about it? You have to go out there and continue to execute your gameplan and find a way to scratch and claw at every little inch within the strike zone. Just find a way to compete and win."
You can follow Stefan Stevenson on Twitter @StefanVersusTex.
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