Mad Max, meet Tom Terrific.
Washington Nationals ace Max Scherzer clinched his eighth consecutive 200-strikeout season Wednesday night when he fanned Baltimore Orioles third baseman Rio Ruiz in the fourth inning. The strikeout made history for Scherzer, who joined Hall of Famer Tom Seaver as the only pitchers in baseball history to record at least eight straight 200-K campaigns, according to MLB Stats.
Mad Max with his 8th straight 200 K season. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/e7J1ISv34Q
— MLB (@MLB) August 29, 2019
Scherzer's current run is now the second-longest streak in MLB history. Seaver struck out at least 200 batters in nine consecutive years for the New York Mets from 1968-76.
The 35-year-old also became one of only 11 pitchers with at least eight career 200-strikeout seasons, according to Baseball Reference. He joins a list that includes eight Hall of Fame hurlers and former teammate Justin Verlander, who's currently working on his ninth-career 200-K campaign.
Scherzer came into Wednesday's game averaging a personal-best 12.5 strikeouts per nine innings this year. He also continues to lead the National League in K/9 and ranks fifth in the league in strikeouts despite spending almost a month on the injured list with a back injury.
Scherzer exited his start Wednesday having struck out eight over 4 1/3 innings. He now has 2,649 career Ks, good for 25th on the all-time list.
