Scherzer owns execution issues after rough night at Fenway

BOSTON -- Evocations of the 2022 Wild Card Series are not what anyone around the Mets desires. But that’s what Max Scherzer’s performance suggested Saturday when he allowed a career-high-tying four home runs to the Red Sox in an 8-6 loss at Fenway Park.

Coming off his finest start of the season, Scherzer gave up leadoff homers to Jarren Duran in the first inning, Triston Casas in the second and Yu Chang in the fifth. Then Scherzer caved for the decisive blow: a two-run shot to Casas that sunk him to his second loss in three starts.

It was the fifth time in Scherzer’s career that he had yielded four home runs in a day, the last of those occurring in Game 1 of the 2022 Wild Card Series against the Padres.

“Baseball is funny,” Scherzer said. “The game always finds a way to surprise you and punch you in the face.”

Each homer came with its own explanation from Scherzer, who allowed them on four different pitches: curveball, cutter, slider and four-seamer. The ones that irked him most were the pitches to Casas, both of which caught significant chunks of the strike zone.

“I told myself before the game, I was like, 'I’ve got to live in the moment, act in the moment,'” the 23-year-old Casas said. “Facing him is an honor, and to share that field with him was really special. His resume speaks for itself. He’s an accomplished pitcher, but I was just trying to go in there, compete.”

What frustrated Scherzer most was that, despite the homers, he feels he has reined in his troublesome slider, which he hung over the middle of the plate far too often earlier this season. During his previous start against the Dodgers, Scherzer applied a midgame fix that he believes allowed him to throw seven scoreless innings. Again on Saturday, he was happy with the slider, chalking Chang’s homer up to a poor grip that he should have altered before throwing it.

The only common thread amongst the homers on this night, Scherzer said, was a lack of execution. But that sort of thing is happening with increasing frequency for the right-hander, who has allowed 22 homers over 100 2/3 innings. His career high of 31 was set during a 2016 season in which he won the National League Cy Young Award, making it more a product of his high innings total than a lack of execution. This year, Scherzer’s rate of 1.97 homers per nine innings is the loftiest of his career, nearly double his lifetime average.

“This is Major League Baseball,” Scherzer said. “You’ve got to take ownership of what you do. When they are blasting you, you’ve got to be able to diagnose yourself and make better pitches. I’ve just got to make better pitches. That’s it.”

Manager Buck Showalter added that “Max always seems to have a way of figuring things out and being there for us and competing.” But as Scherzer approaches his 39th birthday next week, his rough stretches are growing longer and more frequent. Last year, his four-homer game left a lingering stain on his entire offseason.

This year, at least, Scherzer still has time to correct things.

“I get it,” Scherzer said. “I own it. I’m not here to make excuses for it. I’ll answer for all those pitches.”