Newly acquired Texas Rangers star Max Scherzer made his debut for the team on Thursday against the Chicago White Sox, and it was certainly an uneasy outing, to say the least.
Things got off to a pretty horrible start, as Scherzer struggled heavily to get out of the first inning. It took 37 pitchers to get out of the top of the first inning, and he did not come out of it unscathed.
The White Sox would put up three runs in the inning after Scherzer walked in a run, followed by a two-RBI single from Gavin Sheets to take a commanding early lead.
Roll the tape!
pic.twitter.com/lr8Bfeh2Hz — Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) August 3, 2023
It looked like it could be an early night for Scherzer, but he quickly turned back the clock with a vintage performance for the rest of the game.
Scherzer would go on to throw five straight scoreless innings after his disastrous start, striking out nine batters in the process.
Max Scherzer, Nasty 89mph Cutter.
9th K pic.twitter.com/i5PCIjNbaB
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 3, 2023
The Rangers’ offense did their part as well, coming through with four runs through six innings to put Scherzer in line for the win at the time of his departure.
457 FEET FROM GARV
pic.twitter.com/3ufTEJpv47 — Texas Rangers (@Rangers) August 3, 2023
Nice one, Simmy
pic.twitter.com/4TDahOcVe2 — Texas Rangers (@Rangers) August 3, 2023
Scherzer’s opening inning was obviously far from ideal, but fans were certainly impressed with how quickly he was able to bounce back and make it an overall successful outing.
Max Scherzer had a tough first inning in his Rangers debut, but settled in and exits with a lead pic.twitter.com/4LYI6RjLhA
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) August 3, 2023
Max Scherzer tosses a quality start in his first game for the Texas Rangers.
6 IP
3 R
7 H
2 BB
9 SO
105/70 strikes— The Prospect Times (@ProspectTimes) August 3, 2023
After a rough first inning, Max Scherzer settled in and put together a great Texas debut! pic.twitter.com/QEfngDjVzy
— Just Baseball (@JustBB_Media) August 3, 2023
Max Scherzer has retired 13 of the last 14 batters he faced, and struck out two of the three batters he saw in the sixth.
At 105 pitches, he's almost surely done for the day. Finished with five-straight scoreless innings after the bumpy first.
— Shawn McFarland (@McFarland_Shawn) August 3, 2023
Fans will certainly hope moving forward that they see more of the Scherzer from innings 2-6 of this game instead of the one that came to start Thursday’s game.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.