Written by ESPN News Staff at ESPN.com
Washington Nationals ace Max Scherzer left in the second inning of Tuesday night’s 7-6 loss at Miami with what the team said were neck spasms, after belting his first career home run in the first inning.
Scherzer said he has had a crick in his neck for a couple of days but that it helped his swing.
“I couldn’t pull my head out, I had to stay locked in,” Scherzer said. “That actually gave me a better swing. That’s the reason why I hit a home run.”
Scherzer pulled himself out of the game before throwing a pitch in the second. After throwing one warm-up pitch prior to the start of the bottom of the second, Scherzer gestured he was done and walked off the mound.
Scherzer said he slept on his neck wrong a couple of days ago and left for precautionary reasons. The reigning NL Cy Young Award winner worked a 1-2-3 first inning.
“They’ve been working on it,” Nationals manager Dusty Baker said. “Then the spasm was back again.”
Baker said the Nationals would have a better idea of Scherzer’s status on Wednesday.
Scherzer said it was an issue he was familiar with.
“I’ve had this pop up before,” Scherzer said. “Use different pillows sometimes, it can just put a crick in your neck. And that’s what happened. You do anything you can before a game to try to loosen it up. Went out there and warmed up OK, at least to start up the game. Kind of hurt myself turning left. First inning I could tell I wasn’t right. Hard for me to pick up the target.
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