Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Max Scherzer climbed to ninth place on the all-time strikeout leaderboard on Sunday, surpassing Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry. Scherzer, a three-time Cy Young Award winner, achieved this milestone by striking out Seattle Mariners’ Cal Raleigh for the 3,535th strikeout of his career during the seventh inning.
The packed crowd of 42,039 spectators at the stadium gave Scherzer a standing ovation when his record-breaking moment was shown on the scoreboard. Expressing his gratitude, Scherzer acknowledged the significance of moving up in the top 10 all-time strikeout list and cherished the support from his teammates and fans.
In a stellar performance, Scherzer recorded a season-high 10 strikeouts in the game, marking the 115th time in his career that he has achieved this feat. He also limited the opposition to just one hit over a season-best seven innings, securing his first victory since the season opener in March against the Colorado Rockies. Scherzer threw 97 pitches, with 67 of them being strikes.
Making history, Scherzer, at the age of 42, became only the third pitcher in MLB history aged 42 or older to pitch seven or more innings, strike out 10 or more batters, and allow two or fewer baserunners in a game. Notably, Nolan Ryan accomplished this twice, with his most recent feat occurring in 1991.
Manager John Schneider praised Scherzer’s performance, describing it as “vintage Max” as the pitcher dominated from the start, striking out the side in the first inning. Josh Naylor of the Mariners fell victim to Scherzer’s pitching prowess, striking out looking in the second inning and swinging and missing with a runner in scoring position.
Scherzer’s remarkable journey up the all-time strikeout list saw him surpassing former teammate Kyle Schwarber earlier this month to move into 10th place. With only Justin Verlander ahead of him among active pitchers, Scherzer’s legacy continues to grow. A former first-round pick in the 2006 draft, Scherzer has been an eight-time All-Star and has won two World Series championships during his career, which has seen him play for multiple teams, including the Arizona Diamondbacks, Detroit Tigers, Washington Nationals, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, and Texas Rangers.