Max Scherzer recorded a season-high nine strikeouts over six innings to help the Texas Rangers post a 2-1 win over the spiraling Chicago White Sox on Thursday in Arlington, Texas.
The Rangers completed a four-game sweep and have won five straight games overall. The struggling White Sox, in turn, have dropped 11 consecutive contests.
Scherzer enjoyed a bounce-back performance after a rough start against the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday, when he was pulled after giving up four runs on five hits in just two innings. Just two days before his 40th birthday, Scherzer (2-3) limited the White Sox to one run on three hits.
Along the way, the three-time Cy Young Award winner surpassed former teammate Justin Verlander and moved into 10th place on the all-time MLB strikeout leaders list. He overtook Verlander with his third punch-out of the day, when he got Chicago’s Eloy Jimenez swinging in the second inning.
Scherzer, who pitched his 464th career game over 17 seasons, also now leads all active MLB pitchers with 3,400 career strikeouts after Thursday’s performance.
David Robertson closed out a strong effort by the Rangers’ bullpen by striking out two batters over two innings to notch his second save of the season.
Chicago’s Jonathan Cannon (1-5) was saddled with the loss. He gave up two earned runs and eight hits over six innings. He struck out one batter and walked two.
The Rangers had 10 hits but scored just two runs — and both came early.
After Korey Lee had an RBI double to give the White Sox a 1-0 lead in the top of the third, Marcus Semien responded with the game-tying homer in the bottom half of the inning. It was his second homer of the series and 15th of the season.
The Rangers followed up with another run in the fourth inning, when Leody Taveras gave his team the lead with an RBI after grounding into a fielder’s choice.
The White Sox had five hits and left runners stranded on second base in the third, fifth and seventh innings.
–Field Level Media
