Max Scherzer injury

Washington Nationals’ ace Max Scherzer collapsed in what looked like incredible pain after taking a 100-mile-per-hour line drive off the knee in the top of the fourth inning Sunday against the Philadelphia Phillies, yet somehow managed to stay in the game and keep pitching. Here’s video of the initial incident:

And Scherzer continuing to grimace on the ground as he was attended to:

That looks unbelievably painful. However, Scherzer not only got up, he stayed in the game, sparking plenty of tributes to his toughness:

There are questions to be asked about if it was worth leaving Scherzer in and possibly risking further injury, though. He seemed to be laboring more than usual, and gave up two runs before getting out of the inning, then came back out to pitch the fifth. We’ll see what the news is on him after the game. His tenacity certainly can’t be questioned, though.

On the year so far, Scherzer has a 2.49 ERA with 1.1 wins above replacement (as per FanGraphs), with 62 strikeouts (a crazily-high 11.47 K/9) and just 13 walks. He’s been one of the NL’s best pitchers, and a key part of the Nationals’ 23-13 mark to date. Hopefully this incident won’t lead to any serious injuries for him.

[Kevin McGuire on Clippit]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.