As the Toronto Blue Jays add depth in an effort to keep their first-place lead in the AL East, the team also has to have effective game management for success, which they showed during the team's 8-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday. While there were some disastrous moments for the Blue Jays against the Brewers in the current series, the management of pitcher Max Scherzer was a highlight on Sunday.
Scherzer would start the game and ended up pitching four innings as he let go of four earned runs, nine hits, while striking out one. The 41-year-old would be pulled out of the game by manager John Schneider, as he also revealed after the game that the veteran pitcher was dealing with upper back tightness.
The productive pitcher would even say in his press conference that the manager “made the right move” and the “great news” is that Toronto pulled through and got the win over an NL Central-leading Milwaukee team.
“Schneids [Schneider] made the right move to pull me in that situation,” Scherzer said, according to Keegan Matheson. “It was just something I had to deal with. I wasn’t the guy today, but the rest of the team picked me up. That’s the great news here.”
Blue Jays' John Schneider on Max Scherzer's outing
With the Blue Jays' pitching rotation also featuring Shane Bieber, Scherzer remains a key component to the unit, despite being in the twilight years of his career. So far this season, Shcherzer has a 4.11 ERA to go along with 62 strikeouts and a 5-2 record in 13 starts as Schneider would say that he wanted him to go further in the game, but gave insight into the back tightness.
“Obviously, I want to let Max go as deep as he can go, especially given the workload of our bullpen,” Schneider said, via SportsNet. “Just trying to manage it. It's not like a sharp pain; it was kind of a dull pain. It was affecting the way he was pitching a little bit. So, looking forward, you want to nip that.”
At any rate, Toronto looks to further improve as the team currently has a 79-58 record, putting them at the top of the AL East as they start a three-game series against the Cincinnati Reds on Monday. It also remains to be seen if Scherzer misses time, if any, with the back tightness.
