Scherzer ‘ready’ after pen session, aims for ALCS
ARLINGTON, Texas — Max Scherzer declared himself “ready to go” after throwing another bullpen session and doing fielding drills Friday, two days before the Texas Rangers open the American League Championship Series.
The Rangers haven’t said whether the three-time Cy Young Award winner will be on their ALCS roster, and that decision doesn’t have to be made until Sunday before Game 1 at Houston. Scherzer hasn’t pitched in a game since Sept. 12 because of a muscle strain in his injured shoulder.
“I feel good. Recovered, checked all of the boxes I possibly can,” Scherzer said during a workout at Globe Life Field before the team traveled to Houston. “So I’m ready to go.”
Texas manager Bruce Bochy, who didn’t speak with reporters on Friday, and pitching coach Mike Maddux have expressed being encouraged by the progress of Scherzer, who was a trade-deadline acquisition from the New York Mets.
The Rangers did announce left-hander Jordan Montgomery, another deadline acquisition, as their probable Game 1 starter against the Astros. Montgomery is 1-0 with a 3.27 ERA in his two starts this postseason, including Game 2 of the AL Division Series at Baltimore last Sunday.
After a bullpen session in full uniform, Scherzer fielded grounders up both lines at Globe Life Field and covered first base for a few plays.
“I do two days of PFP in the year, one day in spring training and one day before postseason,” he said with a grin, referring to pitchers’ fielding practice.
Scherzer said he is confident he can get batters out and knows he would have to bring his A-game against the Astros. But he doesn’t know how long he could go in a game.
“I can’t answer that question. It’s just going to be play it by ear,” Scherzer said. “I’ll just be in communication with Boch and Mad Dog [Maddux], and we’ll see how this shakes out. … We’ve had conversations: If I do feel something, I’ve got to come out of the game.”
His latest bullpen session followed a simulated game Wednesday, when Scherzer threw 68 pitches against hitters and had several up-and-down segments.
“Very encouraged, the fact that he threw 68 against hitters, maintained his stuff throughout all 68,” Maddux said Friday of Scherzer’s pitch count, speaking before the workouts. “He didn’t skip a beat from 1 to 68. That was the encouraging part. Need to sharpen up a little bit.”
“That was my first time on the mound facing hitters in a few weeks — you’re breaking through some cobwebs,” Scherzer added. “I got through those, got my arm in the right position. So then this sim game [Wednesday], that was kind of more like a rehab start and got stronger throughout my pitches. I felt like I was almost stronger at the end than I was at the beginning, so that’s kind of what you want to feel before you get into a start.”
Asked if he felt like he had more life on his fastball when facing hitters this week than last, Scherzer said he wasn’t sure.
“That was actually kind of a weird sim game,” he said. “I usually don’t pitch hungover.”
That was the day after the Rangers had wrapped up the AL Division Series with a 7-1 win over Baltimore.
Scherzer, whose 3,367 strikeouts are the most among active pitchers, was 13-6 with a 3.77 ERA in 27 starts for the Mets and Rangers. He struck out 174 in 152⅔ innings.
As part of the trade to Texas, Scherzer exercised his 2024 option at $43.33 million, most of which will be covered by Mets’ payments to the Rangers.
MIAMI — Kyle Stowers hit a three-run homer and the Miami Marlins defeated the New York Yankees 7-3 on Sunday, completing their first-ever sweep of the Yankees in a series of three or more games.
The Marlins (55-55) reached .500 for the first time since April 15, when the team was 8-8. Since June 13, the Marlins are 30-14; that’s tied with the 2003 team for the most wins in a 44-game span in franchise history, according to ESPN Research.
The 2003 Marlins went on to beat the Yankees in the World Series in six games.
Marlins starter Edward Cabrera (5-5) pitched six innings of two-hit ball with seven strikeouts and one walk. His only blemish came against the first batter he faced. Trent Grisham drove Cabrera’s 98.1 mph four-seam fastball to right-center.
Miami rookie Jakob Marsee, who made his major league debut on Friday, was 2-for-4 and finished a single short of the cycle.
Stowers made it 6-1 when he connected on an 0-2 fastball from Brent Headrick, who entered in the fourth with two on after starter Luis Gil (0-1) was lifted 3⅓ innings into his season debut.
Gil, the reigning AL Rookie of the Year, struck out three and surrendered five runs and five hits while issuing four walks in his return from a high-grade lat strain. He threw 77 pitches.
Gil’s shaky debut comes at a rough point in the season for the Yankees, whose inconsistency has prompted a rash of criticism, the latest coming from former Yankees stars Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez on Fox’s pregame show Saturday night.
“They make way too many mistakes,” Jeter said. “Way too many mistakes, and you can’t get away with making that number of mistakes against great teams.”
Added Rodriguez: “Where’s the accountability?”
Boone addressed those criticisms before Sunday’s game, saying it comes with the territory of being the Yankees, but he added after the loss that it’s “gut-check” time for his club.
New York’s weekend series at Miami included the Yankees blowing a six-run lead in a wild 13-12 loss on Friday, before a 2-0 loss on Saturday.
The Yankees had a seven-game lead in the AL East in late May. By July 2, the lead was gone and the Yankees have been looking up at Toronto in the division ever since. The red-hot Boston Red Sox, who were more than 10 games behind the Yankees about two months ago, have overtaken their rival for the second spot in the AL East and AL wild-card lead.
“It’s getting late,” Boone said. “And it’s certainly not too late for us. I am confident that we’re going to get it together. But that’s all it is right now is, you know, it’s empty until we start doing it.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
SEATTLE — Julio Rodriguez homered to become the first player in major league history with 20 or more home runs and 20 or more stolen bases in each of his first four seasons, and the Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers 5-4 on Sunday.
Rodriguez hit a two-run shot in the third inning — his 100th career homer — and the slugging and speedy center fielder also added his 21st stolen base of the season after singling in the fifth inning.
Jorge Polanco added a solo shot in the second, and shortstop J.P. Crawford smacked a two-run blast in the fourth against Rangers starter Jacob deGrom (10-4), who became the fastest pitcher in major league history to reach 1,800 career strikeouts by games and innings Sunday.
The Rangers kept things close by pushing across three runs against Mariners starter Logan Evans (5-4), but tallied only one run against the Mariners bullpen before closer Andrés Muñoz locked down his 25th save of the season.
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