

Max Scherzer is going to be a Hall of Famer. But right now, he’s 41 years old, and he was so bad late in the season — a 9.00 ERA in his last six starts — that the Blue Jays didn’t even put him on their division series roster. In a longer series, though, the Blue Jays needed another starter, so they turned to the most accomplished pitcher on their roster.
And for 5 2/3 innings he was, in some ways, his old self.
Scherzer allowed two runs on three hits and the Blue Jays beat the Mariners 8-2 to even the series at two games apiece. Andrés Giménez drove in four runs, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered, and four Blue Jays relievers finished the game without allowing a run.
Manager John Schneider almost pulling Scherzer in the fifth inning was the lasting image of the game, as Scherzer barked at his skipper to let him stay in the game. From Ken Rosenthal’s story, this is the way Schneider remembered the exchange:
💬 “I tell the starters, if I walk to the mound, you’re coming out. If I jog, you can talk me out of it. I started walking. He just went, ‘NO!’ So I proceeded to jog. Before I got there, he goes, ‘I’m good. I’m f—— good!’ I said, ‘Are you? Are you sure?’ And he went, ‘YEAH!’ And I went, you better f—— execute then. And he said, ‘I f—— will!’”
Scherzer did, delivering a late-career highlight that gave the Blue Jays a chance.
This news was originally published on this post .
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