Max Scherzer reared back, fired and caught Kyle Schwarber looking at a 94 m.p.h. fastball at the knees, maintaining the same steely stare the entire time.
The strikeout marked the 3,516th of Scherzer’s career, officially putting the three-time Cy Young award winner in the top 10 in Major League Baseball history on Saturday night against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Scherzer passed the founding member of the 3,000-strikeout club, Walter Johnson, adding another accolade to his Hall of Fame resume.
The 42-year-old Blue Jays starter is in his 19th MLB season and ranks second among active pitchers in strikeouts to Justin Verlander’s 3,554. Chris Sale sits third by a significant margin at 2,722.
Scherzer struck out 300 batters in 2018, one of only seven pitchers to accomplish the feat this century, and had more than 200 on eight other occasions.
The right-hander has split time between the Blue Jays, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, Washington Nationals, Detroit Tigers, Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers in his career, pitching to a 3.26 ERA and 1.09 WHIP with five complete-game shutouts and two no-hitters.
He won the World Series in 2019 with the Nationals and in 2023 with the Rangers.
