The competition to earn a spot in the Blue Jays’ post-season starting rotation took another turn on Friday night when Max Scherzer suffered through one of the worst starts of his career.
Scherzer couldn’t even get out of the first inning after surrendering seven runs on seven hits, including a pair of homers, in a 20-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals. The three-time Cy Young Award winner threw 45 pitches while retiring just two batters in the lopsided defeat at Kauffman Stadium.
The result meant the Jays will wait at least one more day to clinch a spot in the post-season. They could have punched their ticket with a victory over the Royals and losses by two of the Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers. The Tigers lost, but the Red Sox and Guardians both won.
It was only a few weeks ago that Scherzer appeared to be a lock for the playoff rotation. There was a stretch from July 27 to Aug. 19 when the future Hall of Famer went at least six innings while allowing three earned runs or fewer in five consecutive starts.Â
That seems like ancient history now. He has allowed at least four runs in four of his last five outings, completing more than five innings in just one of those, and has surrendered seven home runs across 20 innings. Since Aug. 25, Scherzer has a 9.45 ERA.
What that means for Scherzer’s future with the Jays isn’t entirely clear. Kevin Gausman and Shane Bieber are the only locks to start in the playoffs, while rookie Trey Yesavage, Chris Bassitt, José BerrÃos and Scherzer were in the mix to fill the other two spots.
Scherzer still has one more regular-season outing to make the case that he should be among the top four, but his recent struggles will at least give the Jays pause. The majority of his issues have come in the first inning, where he had an 8.40 ERA entering Friday. That soared to 12.06.Â
Some tough decisions and even more difficult conversations lie ahead for the Jays. None of those were initially expected to involve Scherzer, but after Friday night the situation might have changed.
Royal rumble
Scherzer got into trouble right out of the gates. Carter Jensen led off with a double and quickly came around to score on a single by Bobby Witt Jr. Vinnie Pasquantino followed with a double, and two batters later Salvador Pérez smashed a three-run homer to right-centre. Three batters after that, Michael Massey hammered a two-run homer to right, which gave the Royals a 7-1 lead and forced Scherzer out of the game after eight batters. It was the second-shortest outing of his 18-year career.
Springer dinger
The Jays actually led this game on George Springer‘s leadoff home run in the first inning. It was his 30th homer of the season and the 62nd leadoff shot of his career, which trails only Rickey Henderson in MLB history. It’s Springer’s third 30-homer season and first since joining the Jays in 2021.
Tyler Heineman tonight vs. Royals:
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_)
1.1 IP, 13 H, 10 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 33 P
Heineman hammered
Things got so bad for the Jays that they used two position players as pitchers. Catcher Tyler Heineman entered in the bottom of the seventh and allowed an RBI single to Luke Maile before serving up a three-run homer to Jac Caglianone. Heineman returned for the eighth and had an even worse inning. Maile hit a two-run double while Adam Frazier, Caglianone, Massey and John Rave followed with RBI singles. Jays infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa eventually took over and retired the only two batters he faced.
Bichette bats
The only positive for the Jays was that Bo Bichette resumed hitting for the first time since he suffered a knee injury against the New York Yankees on Sept. 6. Bichette has already been ruled out for the rest of the regular season, but he’s trying to work his way back for the playoffs. The pending free agent is expected to continue hitting this weekend before progressing to running the bases and defensive drills.
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