{"id":857294,"date":"2026-08-14T02:44:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T02:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/857294\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T02:44:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T02:44:15","slug":"scherzer-hits-another-milestone-but-loss-to-red-sox-pauses-blue-jays-push","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/857294\/","title":{"rendered":"Scherzer hits another milestone but loss to Red Sox pauses Blue Jays’ push"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 Ten days ago in Houston, after a dual-track trade deadline as the Toronto Blue Jays<\/a> clung to the very fringes of the wild-card race, John Schneider said the message relayed to players was \u201cwe\u2019re still trying to win, we’re still trying to get into the post-season.\u201d At four games off the pace, their playoff odds down to 4.4 per cent, it may have taken some leap of faith to buy-in, even within the American League\u2019s deep mediocrity. Yet as they reported for work Thursday a mere 1.5 games back of the playoffs, having leapfrogged two of the six teams in front of them, they suddenly had a whole lot more to grasp onto.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing back to Houston, there are times where you have to, like, force the positivity around people, not the belief, but the positivity that, hey, this is doable,\u201d said manager John Schneider. \u201cWhen you get closer (in the standings), it just becomes more real and it motivates guys a little bit. Credit to the guys for playing the way they have up until this point. We have to continue to do it, right, for the next 40 games. It’s not going to get any easier, but I think it makes it a little bit more attainable when you look and do the math.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their math didn\u2019t get better with a 7-0 loss to the Boston Red Sox, who got eight shutout innings from Payton Tolle and a game-breaking grand slam from Caleb Durbin to avert a four-game sweep. But in the midst of a crucial stretch, with six of the next nine games against the New York Yankees sandwiched around three at the AL East-leading Tampa Bay Rays, taking three from Boston is an important jumping off point.<\/p>\n

With Gerrit Cole, Cam Schlittler and Ryan Weathers lined up for the weekend, the task ahead for the Blue Jays (59-64) is far from easy. But 11 wins in the past 17 games have nudged their playoff odds up to 12 per cent, as calculated by Fangraphs, and at two games back, depending on the results of later games, \u201cwe’re right in this fight,\u201d said Max Scherzer.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur record’s not exactly where we want to be considering everything that’s going on this year, but it’s good for us to be this close because the fans now can get into it,\u201d Scherzer added. \u201cEverybody that’s around the team is a little bit more excited about where we’re going. And definitely for us being in a playoff race like this and being in the hunt, it does have everybody charged, but our job\u2019s to win no matter what.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s setback is a reminder of how thin the margins can be, as after Scherzer allowed one-run over five frames, surpassing a 3,000-inning plateau that may not be reached again, a 1-0 game unravelled in the eighth inning. A leadoff infield single by Ceddanne Rafaela, on a chopper that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ranged far to his right to snare while Chase Lee didn\u2019t cover first in time, was the catalyst, leading to Durbin\u2019s one-out slam.<\/p>\n

Up to that point, even as Tolle kept inducing weak contact, \u201cthe game was right there,\u201d said Ernie Clement, \u201cjust a good swing by (Caleb) Durbin, but we’re playing great baseball.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s a great series win against a really good team,\u201d said Clement. \u201cWe’ll use that as momentum going into this next one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shane Bieber starts the opener and if he can get as deep or deeper than Scherzer, that may very well set up Simeon Woods Richardson to handle the open spot Saturday left by Jameson Taillon\u2019s forearm injury. The Blue Jays\u2019 plan remained \u201cup in the air,\u201d said Schneider, but with Spencer Arrighetti due to throw a bullpen Friday ahead of a rehab outing Sunday with triple-A Buffalo, the options are relatively limited.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Scherzer throwing a season-high 92 pitches while continuing his string of solid outings since returning from the injured list July 27 is so vital, with him passing another test Thursday by pitching on a normal four days of rest for the first time since his rehab work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWas able to respond to that, now you keep building up, keep getting stronger,\u201d said Scherzer. \u201cYou start finishing these outings. You’ve got to be great in your last 15 pitches. And so that’s what my focus is, continue to build up and be strong so you can finish starts.\u201d<\/p>\n

His ability to do that is how he became the 139th\u00a0pitcher to reach 3,000 innings and among active hurlers, only Justin Verlander, who plans to retire at season\u2019s end, has more at 3,571.1, with no one even close among those behind him. Only six other pitchers have even reached the 2,000 plateau, led by 37-year-old Chris Sale\u2019s 2,207, while Kevin Gausman (2,045.1) and Cole (2,034.2) are the youngest members of that cohort at 35, while Logan Webb at 29 is the only pitcher under 30 to even break 1,000 innings at 1,195.1. Dylan Cease is among a handful of 30-year-olds to surpass the threshold at 1,146.2, underlining how unlikely it is someone gets to 3,000 again, at least within this generation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe game has changed since when he broke in, that’s a fact,\u201d said Schneider. \u201cThe game has changed with ABS, it\u2019s probably a couple of strikeouts a game that aren’t called because of ABS so you wonder where the strikeout totals for guys is going to go, but you wonder where the innings are going to go because of the way bullpens are used, too. So you appreciate what (Scherzer) does.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scherzer, who last weekend in Philadelphia moved past Walter Johnson for 10th\u00a0all-time in strikeouts, called reaching 3,000 innings \u201ca really cool milestone\u201d while adding that \u201cit just stinks that it comes in a loss.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, the threshold \u201cis a test of durability and being out there posting, making starts year-in and year-out,\u201d he said, while adding \u201cit’s fun pitching, it’s fun towing the rubber and going against a Boston Red Sox team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even better is \u201cthis playoff hunt, we’re in it,\u201d he said later. \u201cIt’s fun to be a part in a situation where every game matters, every start matters and just want to go out there compete and win.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Blue Jays will need to continue playing the type of baseball they have since that fateful deadline day in Houston to keep it that way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 Ten days ago in Houston, after a dual-track trade deadline as the Toronto Blue Jays clung…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":857295,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49,48,82],"class_list":["post-857294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=857294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/857295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}