A fitting D.C. farewell for a guy who's not quite done yet
In what may have been his final appearance at Nationals Park, Max Scherzer gutted out 2 2/3 innings and showed why he still loves to compete
Max Scherzer knew the schedule. He knew the Blue Jays were going to be playing at Nationals Park this week. And though he could only do what his 42-year-old body would allow him to do, he knew he wanted to make every effort to be on the mound in his old stomping grounds Monday night.
Scherzer last pitched in a major-league game June 10. He hadn’t pitched in a big-league game prior to that since April 24. One of the most durable pitchers of his generation has finally succumbed to all those nagging ailments he was able to brush off in his 20s and 30s.
But after tossing five perfect innings in a rehab start last week (against the Nationals’ Triple-A affiliate, by coincidence) he started letting the Blue Jays and some friends in D.C. know he’d be ready to go Monday night, on his birthday.
“I couldn’t really earmark it, just because I’ve been battling so much,” he said. “But the way it unfolded, after that last rehab start, I knew I was in line to be able to get to here. I thought it was going to be too special to miss out. I definitely wanted to have this all happen: Pitch on my birthday, pitch back here.”
