Rangers' ace Max Scherzer will miss the rest of the regular season and it's 'unlikely' that he'll pitch in the postseason due to a low-grade strain in his teres major muscle, general manager Chris Young told reporters on Wednesday, including 105.3 The Fan's Jared Sandler.
Young said Scherzer's injury will heal with rest, and the right-hander won't need to undergo surgery to repair the injury.
Scherzer was forced to leave his Tuesday night start due to a "right triceps spasm," the club announced. Scherzer underwent an MRI Wednesday, which showed the strain.
Scherzer, who had been dealing with forearm tightness, winced in pain after throwing a pitch in the sixth inning of Tuesday's win. Catcher Jonah Heim, pitching coach Mike Maddux, manager Bruce Bochy and athletic trainer Matt Lucero came out to speak with the 39 year old. After a brief visit, he attempted to mimic two warm up pitches before shaking his head and walking off the mound and into the clubhouse with a member of the club's training staff.
Before exiting, Scherzer was dominant through 5.1 innings of work, allowing three hits and no runs. He struck out two and walked one.
Scherzer, a three-time Cy Young Award winner, started eight games for the Rangers after being acquired before the trade deadline in a swap that sent prospect Luisangel Acuna to the Mets. In those eight starts, Scherzer went 4-2 with a 3.20 ERA and a 0.96 WHIP.
With Scherzer unavailable for the rest of the regular season, the Rangers will turn to one of Andrew Heaney, Martin Perez or Cody Bradford to take the vacant spot in the rotation for what would have been Scherzer's final three starts of the season.
Texas is just a half-game up on the Blue Jays and Mariners for the second and third Wild Card spots in the American League with just 18 games left to play.