Scherzer Pummels Pads, Passes 3,000 Ks

In his eighth start as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Max Scherzer, one of MLB’s greatest active pitchers, achieved a significant milestone: 3,000 strikeouts. This came in a dominant performance over the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium on Sunday as LA chases the San Francisco Giants for the National League West Division pennant.

“Mad Max” pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and no walks. He struck out nine Padres batters to bring his career strikeouts total to 3,003. The three-time Cy Young Award winner came close to recording a perfect game before allowing a one-out double to Eric Hosmer in the 8th inning.

In the second inning, Scherzer threw the third immaculate inning of his career. He joins Chris Sale and baseball legend Sandy Koufax as MLB leaders in this category.

The visiting team was not nearly as fortunate with their starting pitching. 2018 Cy Young winner Blake Snell suffered a left adductor strain and left the game after recording just two outs. The Padres relievers who replaced him would allow eight Dodgers runs on nine hits, including home runs by Corey Seager, Mookie Betts and Justin Turner (box). As of this writing, San Diego is tied with the Cincinnati Reds for second place in the NL Wild Card standings. Los Angeles has a comfortable lead of 16.0 games for first place in the Wild Card and is looking to capture a division crown, trailing San Francisco by just 2.5 games.

The Dodgers will host the Arizona Diamondbacks for three games starting Monday night to close out their next-to-last homestand of the 2021 regular season. Gametime will be at 10:10 PM ET. Zac Gallen (2-9, 4.32 ERA) will face off against Clayton Kershaw (9-7, 3.39 ERA).

Featured Image: Closeup of Dodgers logo at Vin Scully Entrance to Dodger Stadium by Steve Cukrov / Shutterstock.com.