Max Scherzer's outing in Sunday's Game 2 of the NLCS ended early due to what the Los Angeles Dodgers ace termed a dead arm.
"I would just say my arm was dead. I could tell when I was warming up that it was still tired," Scherzer said after the Dodgers' 5-4 loss to the Atlanta Braves, according to Matthew Moreno of Dodger Blue 1958. "I wasn't going to be able to get truly deep into a game, and I wasn't going to be able to get to that 95, 100-pitch count. I knew it was going to be sooner than that."
Scherzer quickly added that the issue is purely related to fatigue.
"I'm not dealing with any red-flag injuries," he said, per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register. "I'm just tired."
Scherzer labored through 4 1/3 innings at Truist Park. While he struck out seven batters on 79 pitches, the 37-year-old allowed a pair of runs on four hits before leaving with a runner on base. Left-hander Alex Vesia replaced him and got out of the fifth with no further damage.
Max Scherzer: “I knew I wasn’t gonna be better than Vesia. Vesia was gonna be better against the lefties than I was.” Really impressive candor and self-awareness from an all-time great. Said his arm was still tired from SF and he did everything he could.
— Tyler Kepner (@TylerKepner) October 18, 2021
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts effusively praised the right-hander's work in his abbreviated outing.
"After that fourth inning he said he was starting to feel it a little bit," Roberts said, according to Moreno. "So that's why going into that fifth inning it was going to be a short leash, and when I took the ball he said, 'I gave it all I had,' and that's what you want from a player."
The Dodgers have worked Scherzer hard this October. Sunday was his fourth appearance in eight playoff games, including a save that wrapped up L.A.'s NLDS win Thursday.
