Even though he was dealing with the unfortunate loss of his younger brother, Detroit Tigers pitcher Max Scherzer made his scheduled start on Saturday in a 4-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Scherzer's 24-year-old brother committed suicide on Thursday, prompting the right-handed pitcher to take a leave of absence from the team leading up to his return to the mound in Saturday's game. Despite six strong innings of three-hit ball with seven strikeouts against Pittsburgh hitters, Scherzer might have left the mound with his 5th loss of the season, but fully impressed his catcher Alex Avila with his heart and toughness.
"He pitched well," Avila told MLive.com after the game. "I can't even imagine," Avila said. "He definitely is one of the toughest guys I know." As one might have expected, Scherzer declined to speak to the media after Saturday's loss as he continues to grieve. But while he's clearly going through an extremely tough time right now, the 27-year-old hurler knows he can count teammates like Avila as a rock-solid support staff, and that's a good thing to know.
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