Stats of the Day: To the Max with strikeouts

Here are five interesting items from around the big leagues on Wednesday …

• Throwing 119 pitches (96 for strikes) against his former team, the Tigers, Nationals right-hander Max Scherzer tied the Major League record for strikeouts in nine innings. Scherzer’s 20 K’s came while he amassed 27 called strikes and 31 swings and misses. He did not issue a single walk. Roger Clemens was the first to fan 20 in nine innings; he did it twice (first against the Mariners in 1986, then vs. the Tigers in 1996). Kerry Wood followed in 1998, and Randy Johnson made the trio a quartet in 2001. All five pitchers to fan 20 in nine innings had zero walks. Among pitchers with at least 1,500 innings through their first nine seasons, Scherzer’s career K percentage (26.6) is the third highest. Pedro Martinez fanned 28.9 percent of the batters he faced, and Clayton Kershaw (who is in his ninth season in 2016) has punched out 27.5 percent.

Thanks man! I loved watching ur game as a kid dreaming of doing the same. It’s crazy to me we now share that feat https://t.co/hZoSgzU1el

— Max Scherzer (@Max_Scherzer) May 12, 2016

Thanks man! I loved watching ur game as a kid dreaming of doing the same. It’s crazy to me we now share that feat …

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