Max Scherzer’s second game back was better than his first.
The three-time Cy Young winner started his second game since returning from a thumb injury and his third overall for the Toronto Blue Jays against the New York Yankees on Monday. He struck out seven Yankees batters and walked none as the Blue Jays picked up a critical 5-4 win to gain ground in a tight AL East race.
Scherzer got off to a strong start with two strikeouts in a scoreless first inning. He caught Aaron Judge looking at a third-strike changeup that crossed the plate at Judge’s knees to end the inning.
Scherzer remained perfect through three innings as he recorded two more strikeouts before the Yankees secured their first baserunner in the fourth inning.
Trent Grisham led off the fourth with a single. Jazz Chisholm Jr. brought him home three batters later with a two-run home run. Scherzer left a leadoff slider with two outs hanging over the heart of the plate, and Chisholm launched it over the right-field wall and into the bullpen at Rogers Centre.
Scherzer got out of the inning without further damage and returned to pitch a scoreless fifth. Then his day was done as the Yankees held a 2-0 lead.
The Blue Jays posted a single run in the bottom of the fifth, then opened up the game with a four-run sixth for a 5-3 lead. A two-run single to left field with the bases loaded by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. broke a 3-3 tie.
That turned out to be all Toronto needed to secure the win.
Scherzer didn’t factor into the decision. But he had a strong outing that was dampened only by his mistake pitch to Chisholm. Scherzer finished the day allowing two earned runs on three hits with no walks and seven strikeouts.
The effort was a marked improvement from his rusty return to the mound last week in which he allowed three earned runs on six hits and three walks in five innings in a 5-4 loss to the Cleveland Guardians.
Scherzer, 40, joined the Blue Jays this offseason on a one-year, $15.5 million contract. Wednesday’s start was just his second since a three-inning outing in his Blue Jays debut on March 29. After that start, the Blue Jays placed Scherzer on the 60-day injured list due to thumb inflammation, and he hadn’t pitched again until Wednesday.
Wednesday’s win was a big one for Toronto. They improved to 46-38 to move within two games of the Yankees for first place in the AL East. The Tampa Bay Rays sit 1.5 games behind the Yankees in a crowded division race at the top.
The game was the first of a four-game series in which the Blue Jays have a chance to overtake the Yankees in the standings. Regardless of how it ends, Toronto is hoping for more outings like Monday’s from Scherzer in the second half of the season in what’s shaping up to be a tight race for the division.