The Houston Astros completed a series sweep against AL West rivals Texas Rangers after a dazzling offensive display on Wednesday night. Rangers' veteran pitcher Max Scherzer had a day to forget at the office as he was taken for plenty by the red-hot Astros hitters.
Wednesday's showdown between the Rangers and the Astros had an interesting backdrop as it was the first time Scherzer and his former teammate Justin Verlander were going head-to-head from the mound.
Scherzer, who shared the clubhouse with Verlander during his time with the Detroit Tigers and more recently with the New York Mets, was seemingly excited for his face-off against the future Hall of Famer.
"That'll be fun," Scherzer said, according to ESPN. "First time facing him. My whole career, I've got to face all the best guys in the world and I've got to play with all the best guys in the world. So I got to play with [Verlander] for a while. Now it's going to be fun to actually go up against him."
However, things went south quickly for the Rangers pitcher as Yordan Alvarez struck a two-run homer off his pitch in the first inning. Michael Brantley registered a solo homer in the next before José Abreu's grand slam in the third inning.
Astros scored seven runs off Scherzer in the three innings he was afforded by the Rangers. The 39-year-old's horrid outing from the mound was enjoyed by the Mets fans, who were relieved by the 39-year-old's trade in exchange for Luisangel Acuña.
Acuña struck his first homer for the Mets organization on Wednesday during his multi-homer run outing for Binghamton.
Houston Astros makes history at Scherzer's expense
While it was a forgettable night for the three-time Cy Young winner, his counterpart, Verlander enjoyed a much better outing, thanks to Astros' sensational power-hitting display.
The Astros humiliated their rivals as they swept the series with a scoreline of 39-10, registering a staggering 16 home runs, the most by any team in a three-game series. It is fair to say that Verlander won the much-talked-about showdown without breaking a sweat.
“As a starting pitcher, your job is to carry the momentum. Our offense made it pretty easy on us this series,” Verlander said.