It was as if Max Scherzer had traveled through time. On July 21, 2010, Scherzer, who was in his third major league season at the time, struck out Hall of Fame Vladimir Guerrero for the first time in a victory for the Tigers over the Rangers. Scherzer struck out Guerrero twice in that game.
Ten years and eight days later, Scherzer faced another Warrior on Wednesday at Nationals Park. But this time, it was Vladimir Guerrero Jr., at bat for the Blue Jays.
“I’m getting old,” Scherzer said with a laugh after the Nationals’ 4-0 win over Toronto. I just had a birthday. I’m 36 now. I’m an old man in the league. It’s official”.
The outcome of the confrontation did not change. Scherzer struck out Guerrero in the fourth inning with a pitching at 87 mph. In his first at-bat against Scherzer, the Dominican had hit a fly ball.
“That’s a good thing about this game, facing the old generation and now the new generation,” said Scherzer. “You want to be able to bring out the new generation. The next generation is a great litter of players ”.
Guerrero Jr. was just 11 years old when Scherzer struck out his dad that day in 2010. The Dominican has watched Scherzer a lot, who has won three career Cy Young Awards and surpassed 2,300 strikeouts in his lifetime on Wednesday.
“He’s a great pitcher,” Guerrero Jr. said before the game. “I have seen it a lot on television. My mindset now is that I want to be aggressive. I definitely want to be aggressive, seek my pitch, and swing well. See what happens. But he’s definitely a great pitcher. ” (GG) (Taken from MLB.com)