Max Scherzer Diagnosed With Oblique Injury

 

Max Scherzer pitching to Nolan Arenado during the first inning on Wednesday night. Photo by Jason Schott.

While the Mets took on the St. Louis Cardinals in the finale of their four-game series on Thursday afternoon, the big news of the day would be the result of Max Scherzer's MRI diagnosing the injury he suffered during Wednesday night's game.

The result of the MRI that was conducted that morning was announced over the press box public address system during the top of the fourth inning at 2:35 p.m.

Scherzer has a "moderate to high internal oblique strain" and the "general timeline for an injury of this nature is 6-8 weeks," as they termed it in the press release accompanying the announcement.  

Scherzer pulled himself on Wednesday night, in the top of sixth inning, in the middle of an at-bat against Albert Pujols. After he threw a pitch, it didn't appear anything was wrong until he motioned to the dugout waving his hand under his chin and saying "I'm done." It was reported after the game that he had left side discomfort.

Scherzer did earn the win, as the Mets won 11-4, and he went 5 2/3 innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on seven hits and no walks, with four strikeouts

In eight starts this season, most of which have been superb, Scherzer has a record of 5-1 with a 2.54 ERA. He has thrown 49 2/3 innings, allowing 15 runs (14 earned) with 36 hits, 5 home runs and 11 walks, and has notched 59 strikeouts.

The Mets signed Scherzer to a record three-year/$130 million contract this past offseason.

The dream going into the season was that Scherzer and deGrom would lead the Mets this season, and that was dashed when it was revealed a week before Opening Day that deGrom had a "stress reaction on his scapula that has caused inflammation in the area," and the timeline was that he would not be able to start baseball activities for four weeks. Last Tuesday, he was placed on the 60-day injured list, pushing his return to July.

The Mets have had the best record in the National League for most of the season, and have a comfortable lead in the N.L. East, largely due to Scherzer and the efforts of Tylor Megill, who took deGrom's place in the rotation and put up numbers befitting the two-time Cy Young winner. 

Through April 29, when he was the first of five pitchers to combine to throw a no-hitter against the Phillies, he had a record of 4-0 with an ERA of 1.93.

Overall, Megill had a record of 4-2 with a 4.41 ERA on the season before he was put on the 15-day inured list on Sunday because of biceps tendinitis.