Sometimes, rain delays can be beneficial.
Or more specifically, the state in which the rain leaves the infield dirt and pitching mound.
The rain showers that drenched Queens throughout Sunday should certainly help Max Scherzer sleep better at night.
The Mets’ 38-year-old ace tossed a gem in the team’s 2-1 extra-inning win over the Dodgers at Citi Field. Scherzer pitched seven scoreless innings and surrendered just one hit and three walks while striking out six batters.
Beyond a needed bounce-back start for Scherzer to help the Mets’ end their four-game skid, he believes it was revealing.
By the time Scherzer’s day was done, he was left wondering “could it really be this simple?”
He enjoyed success with his slider, something that has eluded him throughout the season.
A longtime staple in Scherzer’s arsenal, hitters entered Sunday with a .292 batting average against the pitch, according to Baseball Savant — way up from last year’s .183 mark.
Scherzer also entered Sunday with just a 32.2 percent whiff rate on the pitch, down from 46.4 percent last year.
“In the first couple of innings, I was still hanging sliders and it was driving me nuts,” Scherzer said. “I’ve been working so hard at it, trying to figure out what’s going on. But I finally figured out what I think is going on. Once I finally had some mud on my cleats, my cleats were a little bit heavier, and so I realized I wasn’t picking my foot up as high. And all of a sudden the slider was getting down.”
By the fifth inning, Scherzer cleaned the mud out of his cleats and focused on driving his left foot down to the ground “an extra click” when throwing his slider.
Although he had not run into much trouble to that point, it reaped immediate rewards.
Starting in the fifth inning, Scherzer retired nine of the last 10 batters he faced.
“Then boom, that’s all it was,” Scherzer said. “And then my slider started getting down in the zone. That was the fix, that simple, that stupid. … I’ve lost a lot of sleep trying to figure out what it is.”
Scherzer has previously pointed to his grip as the reason behind his struggles this season, which has been disrupted by both injury and suspension.
He had surrendered four and five runs in his last two starts, respectively.
But he stressed “I really do” when asked if the new slider revelation is what can be his needed fix.
If the Mets are to somehow turn their season around, they’re banking on it.
“Max was the difference in the game today,” manager Buck Showalter said. “That won’t be forgotten, I know, by me. Max went through a very tough order, almost close to a fourth time around, you don’t see that out of today’s starters anymore.”
