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Published Apr 06, 2026 • Last updated 1 hour ago • 2 minute read
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Jays pitcher Max Scherzer. Photo by Nathan Dennette /The Canadian PressArticle content
Another day, another potential blow for the embattled Blue Jays starting rotation.
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Veteran Max Scherzer, making just his second start of the season for the reigning World Series champs, was pulled from his start on Monday against the Los Angeles Dodgers after just two innings of work.
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It wasn’t the flu bug that has been ravaging many on the team, either, as it was later revealed that the 41-year-old was suffering from forearm tendinitis.
While manager John Schneider and Scherzer himself worked to paint that as a positive, for a rotation hanging on by a thread it’s a precarious spot to be.
“Given the state of our team and our pitching staff, those were explicit, explicit instructions: You cannot hurt yourself,” Scherzer said by way of explanation following an outing in which he threw just 36 pitches and the velocity on his fastball had dipped noticeably. “You can’t take any undue risk. So it’s much better to be talking after the start about forearm tendonitis vs. forearm strain. That’s where my head was at.”
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When Scherzer exited though, the Jays were all but doomed.
In his place, lefty Josh Fleming came on in relief to pitch the inning as murmurs spread throughout the Rogers Centre wondering what happened to the 41-year-old right hander, who had made just 36 pitches, including a two-run homer to former Jays star Teoscar Hernandez in the first inning.
Scherzer said that the issue emerged following his first start of the season against the Rockies, but in consultation with staff, he felt he could pitch through it.
“I’m not a long-term concern here,” Scherzer said. “I had an issue. (It) just prevented me from making a full start.”
Schneider said he appreciated the honesty from his starter after the issue emerged in recent days. At most, Scherzer would have gone three innings or a pitch count of about 50 on Monday.
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“The positive is (the forearm) didn’t feel any worse,” Schneider said. “With where we’re at right now with our rotation, we’re going to be extra careful and Max is brutally honest. That’s one of his great qualities.
“I’m fairly to quite confident he’ll make his next start. And that was the thinking of taking him (out.)”
As both Scherzer and Schneider noted, the team cannot withstand another injury setback from its starters. The Jays rotation is already without Trey Yesavage, Shane Bieber, Jose Berrios and Cody Ponce – all either injured or recovering from injury.
Meanwhile, it wasn’t exactly an ideal spot for Fleming to enter the game to face Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, who proceeded to single and then advance to second on an errant throw from the likely nervous Toronto pitcher.
Late in the inning, Fleming allowed a two-run homer to Dodgers all star first baseman, Freddie Freeman to increase the Dodgers lead to 4-1. By the time the inning was done, Fleming had thrown 33 pitches and allowed three hits and the two runs on the Freeman blast, though he wasn’t helped by an error from third baseman Kazuma Okamoto as the sloppy Jays defensive play continued.
The journeyman lefty was summoned from Buffalo and activated for Monday’s game, the first of three against the World Series champs.
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