Mets' Max Scherzer Pulls Himself From Start With Left Side Discomfort

Mets pitcher Max Scherzer exited his start on Wednesday night with left side discomfort

NEW YORK -- The Mets were riding high after a four-run inning in the bottom of the fifth against the Cardinals - then the air got sucked out of Citi Field. 

Prized arm Max Scherzer left his start with left side discomfort in the top of the sixth on Wednesday night. The 37-year-old will undergo imaging on Thursday morning, as the Mets announced. 

What's even more concerning about this situation was that Scherzer pulled himself out of the game after throwing a slider on what would be his 87th and final pitch of the evening. 

Max Scherzer motions to the dugout and leaves the game in the middle of the 6th: pic.twitter.com/EG5DkMTBN2

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 19, 2022

Scherzer immediately made a repetitive throat slashing motion towards the dugout, indicating that he was done, before exiting with a trainer. 

This is rather worrying given Scherzer's reputation for pitching through discomfort. Earlier in the year, Scherzer pitched on a bad hamstring in his first outing of the season. 

According to Scherzer, he has never dealt with this type of injury in the past, but he does not believe it is a major strain. The righty was experiencing left side tightness throughout his start, and then in the sixth inning felt a "zing," which told him he couldn't go any further.

"I felt a zing in my side and just knew I was done," Scherzer said postgame. "I have never had a left side injury before, so when I felt it I knew 'there is no way you can throw another pitch, so just get out of there.'"

Although Scherzer admitted that his side did not feel great while speaking after the game, he was hopeful that he caught this ailment early enough to prevent a major injury. 

"I don't think this is a major strain," Scherzer said. "I was kind of tight, then all of a sudden it went. I don't feel like I really ripped it. It just kind of got worse, so hopefully I got out of there quick enough to prevent a major injury here on an oblique. Those things can be nasty. Hopefully I avoided a serious injury."

Max Scherzer explains what he left in the 6th inning:

"Just felt a zing in my left side and just knew I was done"

On what he thinks the injury could be:

"I don't think this is a major strain... hopefully I got out of there quick enough to prevent a major injury here." pic.twitter.com/gJ0wI4zOoc

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 19, 2022

Regarding the possibility of Scherzer making his next start, the three-time Cy Young Award winner said it was way too early to make that determination. 

"No idea right now," he said. "I gotta wake up tomorrow and get in an MRI tube to see the exact nature of what we got here." 

"I've had different body parts get zings in games, and you think you can go back out there and it will be okay - and it's not. You just know you can't throw another pitch."

Scherzer pulled himself from a start due to a groin injury last season, and did the same due to a neck issue in the past, as he recalled. 

The Mets are hoping that Scherzer's imaging comes back clean, as they can ill afford to lose their ace for any period of time. The Mets have already been missing Jacob deGrom (stress reaction on right scapula) all season and recently lost Tylor Megill to the 15-day I.L. with biceps tendinitis.

New York beat the Cardinals by a score of 11-4 on Wednesday to improve to 25-14 on the season. They will now await Scherzer's imaging results tomorrow to determine the severity of the righty's injury. 

Read More:

- Buck Showalter on Slumping Francisco Lindor: ‘He’ll Figure it out’

- Mets' Brandon Nimmo Dealing With Right Quad Contusion

- Mets’ Jacob deGrom’s Latest MRI Shows ‘Continued Healing’

Follow Pat Ragazzo on Twitter (@ragazzoreport), be sure to bookmark Inside The Mets and check back daily for news, analysis and more.