Mets' Max Scherzer: Tagged for seven unearned Friday

Scherzer gave up seven unearned runs in 2.2 innings during Friday's Grapefruit League game against the Nationals, allowing five hits and striking out one.

The veteran right-hander was having a little fun trying out different strategies to exploit the new pitch clock and use it to his advantage by messing up hitters' timing, but his experiments back-fired in the third inning when he got charged with a balk, and some shaky defense by Luis Guillorme at shortstop contributed to an eight-run frame for Washington. This outing will be long forgotten by the time Opening Day rolls around, and Scherzer's 6:0 K:BB through his first 4.2 spring innings is a far better indicator of where he is in his preparations for the regular season.