Mad Max continues to add to his legacy.
After striking out Philadelphia Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber in the first at-bat of the first inning on Wednesday, Blue Jays starter Max Scherzer became just the 11th pitcher in MLB history to notch 3,500 career punchouts.
And it didn’t take long for Scherzer to collect his 3,501st strikeout, getting Trae Turner to swing and miss on a 95 m.p.h. fastball during the very next at-bat.
He ended his outing with four punchouts to reach 3,503 for his career.
The elite company he’s now in includes Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, Steve Carlton, Bert Blyleven, Tom Seaver, Don Sutton, Justin Verlander, Gaylord Perry and Walter Johnson.
Scherzer and Verlander are the only active players on the list.
The 41-year-old Scherzer has been dominating the major leagues for nearly two decades, winning three Cy Young Awards over his 19-year career. He’s also posted a sub-3.0 ERA eight times, five of which came consecutively from 2015-19, and led MLB in strikeouts three times.
Over his career, the right-hander has accumulated 74.3 WAR, 222 wins and owns a 3.24 ERA in close to 3,000 total innings.
Wednesday’s start didn’t quite finish as well as it began, as Scherzer was charged with five earned runs over 3.1 innings of work while surrendering a pair of homers and three walks.
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