having sustained a stress fracture in a knuckle of his right ring finger prior to the 2017 season, scherzer was unavailable to start opening day for the nationals. he navigated a delayed start to spring training and missed the world baseball classic. nonetheless, he avoided spending any time on the disabled list to start the season. on may 14, 2017, he pitched his first career immaculate inning, striking out césar hernández, odubel herrera, and aaron altherr on nine pitches in the fourth inning versus philadelphia. it was the 84th immaculate inning in the major leagues, and second in nationals' history, following zimmermann's versus the florida marlins in 2011. in a 2–1 win versus the dodgers on june 6, scherzer struck out 14. he obtained the first 10 outs of the game via strikeout in spite of his own throwing error on a pickoff attempt, two walks allowed, and a passed ball by matt wieters.