Justin Verlander is giving props to Max Scherzer for coming back strong from a gnarly broken nose injury ... telling TMZ Sports, "I appreciate him working through the pain."
Of course, Mad Max took a baseball straight to the face during a bunting drill in Nationals batting practice Tuesday ... and suffered a nasty broken nose and a black eye as a result.
But Scherzer toughed it out and pitched for Washington just 24 hours later ... and DOMINATED -- throwing 7 innings with no earned runs and 10 strikeouts against the Phillies.