Max Scherzer suspended 10 games for illegal substance after ejection Wednesday vs. Dodgers

Thursday update: Scherzer has been suspended for 10 games by the league for having an illegal substance on his pitching hand during Wednesday’s game against the Dodgers. The pitcher plans to appeal the decision. If upheld, this will likely cost Scherzer two starts with a potential third start up in the air depending on how the Mets work their rotation.

Max Scherzer’s start against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday was cut short after the righty was ejected due to what umpires claimed was a foreign substance on his pitching hand.

Scherzer seemed to be trying to tell the umps that the substance was actually rosin, rather than anything forbidden, but to no avail. The righty had already gotten into it with the umps during a previous check after the bottom of the third, during which Phil Cuzzi asked him to get a new glove.

Scherzer obliged, but when home-plate umpire Dan Bellino checked him again as he came out for the fourth, he still found something sticky and decided to toss the three-time Cy Young Award winner. Scherzer, whose start was pushed back several days as he battles back discomfort, hadn’t allowed a run over his first three frames.

Scherzer’s second season with the New York Mets hasn’t gotten off to a smooth start, with an uncharacteristic 4.41 ERA over his first three starts and just 14 strikeouts in 16.1 innings. His hard-hit rate is way up, and more disconcertingly, his four-seam fastball is down a full mile per hour from what it averaged last year. The Mets can ill afford any sort of absence with Justin Verlander continuing to rehab his shoulder injury and Carlos Carrasco and Jose Quintana on the IL for the foreseeable future.