Although it was a little too late to help out the Washington Nationals, starting pitcher Max Scherzer tossed his second no-hitter of the 2015 MLB season on Saturday night in a win over the New York Mets.
Scherzer's perfect game was broken up in the seventh inning when third baseman Yunel Escobar made a throwing error, which allowed Mets catcher Kevin Plawecki to safely reach first base. Other than that, the Mets were stymied.
The right-hander struck out 17 en route to a 2-0 victory. Scherzer, who signed a seven-year, $210 million contract in the offseason, is now 14-12 with a 2.79 ERA, 0.92 WHIP and 276 strikeouts in 33 starts (228 2/3 innings) after closing out the season in style.
Saturday's historic moment overshadowed a great outing from Matt Harvey, who gave up one unearned run on four hits while striking out 11 over six innings. Nonetheless, the Mets will still have the last laugh because they are the 2015 NL East champions.
As for Scherzer, his other no-hitter came back on June 20 against the Pittsburgh Pirates, and that time he was just one strike away from a perfect game before he hit catcher Jose Tabata with a pitch with two outs in the ninth inning.
According to Elias Sports Bureau, Scherzer became the fifth pitcher in MLB history to throw two no-hitters in the same season, joining Johnny Vander Meer (1938), Allie Reynolds (1951), Virgil Trucks (1952) and Nolan Ryan (1973). Out of that group, he's the first to throw two no-hitters against playoff bound teams. He also tied Ryan's mark of 17 strikeouts, which is the most ever in a no-hit performance.
And let's not forget, this was the second time the Mets were no-hit in 2015. San Francisco Giants starter Chris Heston threw the first no-hitter of the season against New York back on June 9, and last night the Mets joined some interesting company - the 1917 White Sox, 2010 Rays and 2015 Dodgers - as the only playoff-bound teams in MLB history to be no-hit twice in the same season.
However, the Mets will look toward their first postseason berth since 2006 while the Nationals will go back to the drawing board this offseason. Washington at least won't have to worry about the top of their starting rotation because Scherzer will be there for the next six years.
"Guys, I'm speechless about that," Scherzer told Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com. "I don't know what to say. You go out there and try to have as much success as possible. You try to accomplish as much as you can and do everything you can. ... To have that happen twice in a season, it's special. And when you start talking about the history of the game, you can't even really think about that. That's why I'm speechless."
The Mets (89-72) will now have to travel to Los Angeles to face the Dodgers (91-70) in the NLDS next week because they are now unable to secure home-field advantage for that series. The Nats defeated New York in both games of the doubleheader and the Dodgers won again, putting them two games ahead of the Mets with one remaining in the season.
