Two days after his teammate Justin Verlander nearly tossed a no-hitter against the same Pittsburgh Pirates team, Detroit starter Max Scherzer was equally electric en route to posting a career-high 15 strikeouts in Sunday's finale.
Scherzer, who needed 115 pitches to make it through seven innings, gave up two runs on four hits after turning in four consecutive scoreless frames to kick off the day. The 27-year-old hurler fanned 11 batters back on April 13 in a loss to the Chicago White Sox, but entered his Sunday start with a poor 6.26 ERA and in desperate need of a strong showing.
Jhonny Peralta's solo home run in the fifth inning provided the only run support of the afternoon for Scherzer, however, as his team was unable to show up on his big day. Scherzer's outing represented the highest single game strikeout total by a Tigers starter since Mickey Lolich back in 1972, and the most by a starter in baseball thus far in 2012.
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