Max Scherzer was far too kind to his former team in Mets return

New York Mets pitcher Max Scherzer returned from suspension to face the Detroit Tigers, his former team, and had an incredibly rough outing.

New York Mets starting pitcher Max Scherzer was supposed to return for the team’s series against the Atlanta Braves, but plans changed due to inclement weather postponing two games. Scherzer was suspended for 10 games for foreign substance use in a much-talked-about game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, who opted against appealing despite maintaining his innocence.

His decision to not appeal the suspension was due to the fact that he could return to face the Braves. But due to the three postponements, his outing was pushed to Wednesday, where he faced his former team, the Detroit Tigers.

Let’s just say that Scherzer was too kind to his former team.

Scherzer was removed from the game in the fourth inning after surrendering six earned runs on eight hits, while striking out just three batters in the 8-1 loss.

Mets: Max Scherzer has rough outing in return from suspension against former team

In the bottom of the first inning, Scherzer surrendered a sacrifice fly to Nick Maton and an RBI double by Spencer Torkelson to give the Tigers an early 2-0 lead. One inning later, Scherzer gave up a solo homer to Eric Haase to extend Detroit’s lead to 3-0. In the fourth, Scherzer gave up a single to Akil Baddoo and a two-run homer to Matt Vierling to extend Detroit’s lead to 5-1.

After striking out Haase and surrendering back-to-back singles to Andy Ibanez and Zach McKinstry, manager Buck Showalter removed Scherzer from the game. The sixth run credited to Scherzer occurred shortly afterward when Riley Green hit an RBI single off Zach Muckenhirn.

After the game, Scherzer said that he didn’t do a good job of locating his pitches. Scherzer’s comments come courtesy of SNY.

"“Just didn’t do a good job of locating,” said Scherzer. “Kind of was spraying the ball in the first and I didn’t pitch well out of the stretch. And that’s kind of systematic of when you have a long layoff…I felt like that’s where some of the mistakes were, where I got beat and that’s just the adjustment I’ve got to make.”"

Scherzer was ejected from the aforementioned Apr. 19 game against the Dodgers after umpires determined that he was using a sticky substance on his pitching hand. The two-time Cy Young award winner claimed that it was rosin and sweat, in addition to rubbing alcohol, which he used to wash off the rosin during his first warning.

To make matters worse for the Mets, the team lost their doubleheader to the Tigers on Wednesday. This is now the first time since the 2020 season in which the team lost a doubleheader, per SNY.

The Mets look to avoid a sweep by the Tigers with a win on Thursday. As for Scherzer, he is next in line to start in the team’s May 10 game against the Cincinnati Reds.