The Toronto Blue Jays came out with an 8-2 victory against the Seattle Mariners in Game 4 to tie the series, and it took a heated exchange between manager John Schneider and Max Scherzer to get the job done. In the fifth inning, Schneider walked up to Scherzer on the mound in an attempt to get him out of the game, but the Blue Jays' pitcher was not having it.
It looked like Scherzer had some choice words for Schneider, and the manager backed up and let his pitcher rock. It seemed to be a good idea in the end, with the Blue Jays winning. After the game, Schneider shared what the exchange was between him and Scherzer.
“I tell the starters, if I walk to the mound, you’re coming out. If I jog, you can talk me out of it,” Schneider said via Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. “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!”
Not only did he strike out Randy Arozarena on a curveball afterwards, but he tied a career high by getting four strikeouts on his curve, his fourth most-used pitch.
When Scherzer went into the dugout, he started screaming again.
“I didn’t say anything,” Schneider said. “He was just yelling. ‘I f—— told you! Yeah, I got this s—!”
Schneider shared what his plan was going to be with Scherzer, but luckily for the Blue Jays, he wasn't able to execute it, because it could it cost them the game.