Max Scherzer returned to the Washington Nationals’ rotation last week in Pittsburgh with four innings of work on the mound in which he threw 71 pitches, but that was it in a short outing for the 35-year-old right-hander who hadn’t thrown in a big league game since the 25th of July as he dealt with scapulothoracic bursitis and then a mild rhomboid strain.
“He was a little gassed,” manager Davey Martinez said, “which we figured he would be, but his intensity was like always, and he got through it.”
The key, however, was how Scherzer recovered, since the issues he’d been dealing with that led to two stints on the Injured List after the All-Star Break came after his outings.