LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles Dodgers’ Max Scherzer has become the 19th player in major league history with 3,000 tackles.
Right-hander ventured Eric Hosmer of the San Diego Padres in Sunday’s fifth inning at Dodger Stadium.
The crowd applauded the three-time Cy Young Award winner, and Scherzer withdrew his cap. He threw the ball of remembrance into the drawer. Hosmer fell in six pitches, retiring on an affordable strike.
Scherzer, 37, also had a perfect game through the 7⅓ innings before Hosmer doubled; its beginning also included an immaculate entrance. Scherzer has pitched two non-hiters in his 14-year career, but never a perfect match.
Knowing that Scherzer needed one more attack to reach the mark, the fans stood up and cheered every time he had two hits. Some picked up cell phones to record the moment.
Scherzer entered the game needing six attacks to reach 3,000. He got Trent Grisham in the first. He attacked the winger in nine throws in the second, retiring Fernando Tatis Jr., Hosmer and Tommy Pham, who all fell swinging.
In the third, Scherzer eliminated Wil Myers on five pitches.
Scherzer is 13 points away from catching Houston’s Justin Verlander to get the most active players. Verlander, a Scherzer teammate in Detroit, is missing the entire 2021 season after Tommy John’s surgery.
Scherzer is 13-4 and his 2.28 ERA is second in the National League. It was acquired by the Washington Nationals in July and has been contested by a fourth Cy Young for the Dodgers stretch.
He has a nine-game win and has not lost since May 30 against Milwaukee. He’s been 9-0 in his last 15 starts since June 4, with a 9-0 with an ERA of 2.23. Four of those wins have come with the Dodgers.
Scherzer was drafted by Arizona in 2006 outside of Missouri. He has pitched for the Diamondbacks, Detroit and Washington, and is 188-97 with an ERA of 3.15 in his career.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.