Here's what Max Scherzer said after his brilliant home debut that has Mets fans excited

NEW YORK — For around two hours on Tuesday night, Max Scherzer had Mets fans dreaming about what could be.

On a frigid night in April, the energy ticked toward October as the Mets ace mowed down one Giants batter after another.

In his home debut with the Mets, Scherzer was dialed into mid-season form as he sent down 17 of the first 18 batters without a hit. The cheers and ovations grew more and more electric with each passing out.

In his first home game in Citi Field, Scherzer turned in his 105th double-digit strikeout performance of his career. He dominated seven innings with 10 strikeouts and one earned run on one hit with three walks.

"The pressure today was to pitch deep into the game because of the bullpen," Scherzer said. "That was first and foremost and most important thing for the club tonight was for me to throw as many innings as possible. You always want to win no matter what the situation is but there was an extra incentive tonight for me to pitch deep into the game."

Scherzer said that he had the seven-inning mark circled and sought out having the pressure of going out to try and provide length.

He was not focused on trying to secure his third no-hitter. He was intent on doing whatever it took to help the Mets win, not only on Tuesday but across the next few games.

Darin Ruf's RBI bloop single into left with two outs in the sixth inning was the first against Scherzer. He finished six innings having thrown 94 pitches, and it seemed that would be it after he needed 27 pitches to get through the sixth.

There was still no chance he was coming out.

"We kind of talk with our eyes a little bit more than anything," Buck Showalter said. "I’ve kind of got a feel for what he wants. We trust him. There in the seventh, we had a limit of 110 (pitches) tonight, but that’s a good team over there obviously."

If Scherzer had gotten the hook, it would not have come as a surprise.

He had thrown 80 pitches in his first start and 96 in his second. Scherzer had also dealt with some hamstring tightness late in spring training and said he finally felt 100 percent after his second start against the Phillies.

But he trotted back out for the seventh and looked as dominant as the first. He induced a lazy fly ball to left field and a ground ball to short before freezing Steven Duggar on a low changeup and finished his third win of the season with 102 pitches thrown.

Scherzer's last no-hitter came in 2015 back at Citi Field when he struck out 17 Mets hitters.

For the 37-year-old, he feels he has a shot at a no-hitter after two hitless turns through the order. But the opportunity doesn't really come into focus for him until the seventh or eighth inning.

The Giants were forced to use 10 relievers during the doubleheader, while Showalter called on six. Advantage, Mets.

Drew Smith and Trevor May came on to shut the door with the final two scoreless innings.

"I was trying to pitch deep into the game," Scherzer said. "I knew I needed to control my pitch count tonight so I could pitch as deep as possible because of the doubleheader.

"The deeper I could go, it saves bullpen arms. That not only matters today but it also shows up for the next three or four days. My job tonight was literally to pitch as many innings as possible."

Coming to grips

Showalter said one of the best qualities of Scherzer is that he can command all of his pitches.

The Mets manager harkened back to an old phrase from Orel Hershiser that he believed fit Scherzer: "It takes command of one quality pitch to compete, two to win and three to dominate."

Scherzer got a strikeout with each of his five pitches, leaning on the fastball and cutter, which produced nine of his 15 swings and misses.

But on a cold spring night, Scherzer said he didn't really feel that he had his best stuff.

That's also part of what made Scherzer's start so special.

"I think everybody comes back talking about how difficult it was to grip the ball today," Scherzer said. "When you don’t have sweat, it felt like you were throwing a cue ball tonight. Everybody was overgripping everything. It’s just part of the game right now. It’s just frustrating."

Despite lacking his strong sense of command, he was still able to throw 64.7 percent of his pitches for strikes and often made the Giants hitters look overmatched.

Through three starts, Scherzer is 3-0 with a 2.50 ERA and 23 strikeouts in 19 innings. He has now won 14 straight decisions.

"I think it’s verified a lot of things. It’s no secret. Max is real. He’s on all the time. He’s on," Showalter said. "It’s not, ‘Oh is Max having a bad (outing)?’ It’s not like anyone has to check what type of mood he’s coming in. He’s Max every day. He’s engaged. He’s got entertaining opinions and he’s usually well thought out."

Andrew Tredinnick is the Mets beat writer for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to all Mets analysis, news, trades and more, please subscribe today and download our app.

Email: atredinnick@gannett.com Twitter: @andrew_tred

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NY Mets: Max Scherzer goes seven innings for third win of season vs. Giants