SCHERZER WORKING TOWARDS BLUE JAYS RETURN

by Tony Fiorello

Max Scherzer throws a pitch in a rehab start for the Buffalo Bisons on July 8. Photo courtesy of Buffalo Bisons.

41-year-old Max Scherzer, a three-time Cy Young award winner for the Toronto Blue Jays, made his third rehab start of the season for the Buffalo Bisons on July 8 and while his statistics didn’t seem all that great to the naked eye, progress was made in his recovery from multiple injuries.

Right thumb soreness, back spasms, left ankle inflammation and right forearm tendinitis have limited Scherzer to just six starts at the major league level but he took another step forward in his outing against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders by allowing five runs (four earned) on six hits in four innings pitched while striking out five and walking no batters. Following the 5-1 loss, Scherzer felt good about his prospects.

“It’s nice to actually pitch out of a stretch and have to grind through an inning. But then I also responded well and finished the outing strong,” Scherzer said. “I feel like I pitched well in the later half of the game, and even there in the fourth, I felt strong. That's a good thing, last time out was three innings. Now this is four innings so I get to check a lot of boxes with everything I did today.”

“There were no issues. I’ve got everything under control right now, but I’ve got to stay on top of it. I just need to get back out there and start making starts, take my turn in the rotation and be healthy at the same time.”

While Scherzer did allow all of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s runs in the game’s first two innings, he was able to settle into a groove afterwards and looked like his typical self.

“Physically I’m in a good spot,” Scherzer said. “I felt strong, and that's what you're looking for in a start like this – it's not about how you start, it's about how you finish and how you’re pitching deep into the ball game. Especially for me – my last time out we got to 50 pitches, so this time we're getting to the low 70s. So that's a good sign to get back up to the big leagues.

“Some balls were hit hard in the first inning, but I’m just getting back in a rhythm. I’m not going to dwell on it – obviously you don't want to give up home runs, but it's about attacking the zone too with all your pitches. Today I didn't walk anybody and I made sure that I got some swinging misses throughout the outing, and that's a feather in the hat of what you want to look for coming out of this.”

Scherzer, who pitched for the Detroit Tigers earlier in his career along with future Hall-of-Famer Justin Verlander, also took the news of his former teammate announcing his retirement in stride.

“I'm happy that he's in a good spot,” Scherzer said. “What a career he's had – kudos to him for everything he's been able to achieve.

“We had some great teams there in Detroit and we really kind of kick ourselves that we didn't win the whole thing. We had the talent to be able to do that but unfortunately, the ball didn't break our way and we weren't able to get it done. But getting to watch him go out there and dominate the game was fun to see, and he was on top of the game at that point.”

Scherzer was able to follow up his outing with a five-inning masterpiece over Rochester on July 22, surrendering no runs and not allowing a single baserunner while fanning seven hitters. Now that he’s presumably healthy again, he’s hoping to stay in the majors for good this time.

“It's beyond frustrating but I'm still in this fight,” Scherzer said. “I'm ready to come back out here in the second half of the season, hit the ground running and really try to help the team win some ball games.”