Wood welcomes Scherzer to 20-strikeout club
Mere minutes after striking out his way to pitching immortality, Max Scherzer was welcomed into the 20-strikeout club by arguably its most dominant member.
Congratulations to @Max_Scherzer on an impressive and dominant performance tonight. Welcome to the club! #Filthy
— Kerry Wood (@KerryWood) 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 https://t.co/hZoSgzU1el
— Max Scherzer (@Max_Scherzer) May 12, 2016
Kerry Wood, the hard-throwing Chicago Cub who mowed down 20 Houston Astros on May 6, 1998, took to Twitter shortly after Scherzer struck out 20 Detroit Tigers to tie the MLB record for strikeouts in a nine-inning game.
| Date | Pitcher | Team | SO | ER | H:BB | GSc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5/6/98 | Kerry Wood | CHC | 20 | 0 | 1:0 | 105 |
| 5/8/01 | Randy Johnson | ARI | 20 | 1 | 3:1 | 97 |
| 9/18/96 | Roger Clemens | BOS | 20 | 0 | 5:0 | 97 |
| 4/29/86 | Roger Clemens | BOS | 20 | 1 | 3:1 | 97 |
| 5/11/16 | Max Scherzer | WAS | 20 | 2 | 6:0 | 87 |
Watch: Scherzer's 20 strikeouts in 20 seconds
Like Scherzer, Wood didn't walk any batters during his 122-pitch masterpiece, and allowed just one hit over nine scoreless innings for a mind-boggling game score of 105.