Los Angeles Dodgers ace Max Scherzer, who said Sunday that his “arm was dead,” was scratched from his scheduled start Saturday in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series at Atlanta, multiple media outlets reported Friday night.
The Braves, who lead the best-of-seven series 3-2, beat Scherzer in Game 2, when he allowed two runs on four hits in 4 1/3 innings. The right-hander struck out seven and walked one while throwing 79 pitches.
In Scherzer’s place Saturday, the Dodgers could move up their scheduled Game 7 pitcher, Walker Buehler, to work on three days’ rest. Buehler came back on short rest to pitch Game 4 of the NL Division Series against the San Francisco Giants, and he turned in 4 1/3 innings of one-run ball as the Dodgers posted a 7-2 victory to force a decisive fifth game, which they won.
Another option for Game 6 could be a bullpen game led by David Price, who was just added to the roster Friday as an injury replacement for Joe Kelly, or Tony Gonsolin.
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Los Angeles has been without veteran left-hander Clayton Kershaw throughout the postseason due to a forearm injury.
The Dodgers acquired Scherzer from the Washington Nationals in a July 30 trade, and he went 7-0 with a 1.98 ERA in the regular season for Los Angeles, with the team winning all 11 of his starts. He is 0-1 with a save and a 2.16 ERA in four appearances (three starts) during the 2021 postseason.
He threw 179 1/3 innings during the regular season and has added 16 2/3 innings in the postseason.
Scherzer, a three-time Cy Young Award winner, led the Nationals to the 2019 World Series title. He went 3-0 with a 2.40 ERA in six postseason games (five starts) that year.
–Field Level Media