DUNEDIN, Fla. — As far as must-see spring training matchups go, Saturday’s Grapefruit League contest at TD Ballpark was as close as it gets.
This was a Max Scherzer outing, with the 41-year-old right-hander making his second start of the spring for the Toronto Blue Jays. Taking the ball for the visiting Detroit Tigers was ace Tarik Skubal, fresh off a return from pitching for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic.
It was a matchup of Cy Young award winners, a matchup of the former best pitcher in the world against the current best pitcher in the world, and a matchup of two of the most competitive men in the sport.
If this were the regular season, it would be worth clearing out your entire afternoon schedule to catch the action. Because this is spring training, though, it was at least worth cancelling lunch plans.
It was clear right from the start that these thoroughbred pitchers weren’t simply trying to get their work in. Skubal underlined that in the first inning by challenging a ball to Davis Schneider and then excitedly storming off the mound when it was overturned to a third strike.
“That was the first time I’ve seen a pitcher get it right,” said Schneider, who has experience with the ABS challenge system from his time in the minors. “(Tigers catcher Dillon) Dingler thought it was a ball, too. I asked him, ‘Do you think it caught the corner?’ He was like, ‘No.’ And then Skubal was very confident.”
Scherzer responded in the next inning by firing one of his hardest pitches to that point of the afternoon, a 94.4 m.p.h. fastball, to induce a flyout that ended a bases-loaded jam.
Both the Blue Jays and Tigers featured several regulars in their lineups, but it didn’t matter much while Skubal and Scherzer were still in the game as they traded zeros and looked dominant at times.
Scherzer exited the game in the fifth inning to a standing ovation from the home crowd. The right-hander allowed two hits and two walks over 4.2 scoreless innings and 65 pitches. He struck out five, induced 11 whiffs on 31 swings and featured a fastball that sat at 93.4 m.p.h. and topped out at 95.4 m.p.h.
“Old man still got,” quipped manager John Schneider. “Whenever you're signing a guy with his track record and his birth date, if you will, you're anxious to see what it looks like. And so far, I think he's ahead of where he was last year, so that's a good thing.”
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Scherzer, who was coming off four no-hit innings in his initial spring start, re-signed with the Blue Jays two weeks ago. And while he’s looked good so far, he’s quick to offer the reminder that it’s still spring training.
The right-hander was asked if facing Skubal provided him with any extra juice.
“I mean, yes, obviously, but at the end of the day, it's spring,” Scherzer said. “You're out here to get your body ready, you're not necessarily out here for results.”
He added that he was actually pleased the Tigers put runners on base and created jams like the bases-loaded situation in the second inning.
“This is what you have to do during the (regular) season,” said Scherzer. “You're going to have to execute pitches like that. It's better to be in those situations and get ready for the season than to just be perfect and (pitch) out of the windup the whole time. For me, it's not about the results, it is about the process and how you feel and execute both out of windup and out of stretch, so you get exposed that way.”
Skubal, meanwhile, tallied seven strikeouts through his 4.2 innings, with the only damage against the left-hander coming from Daulton Varsho’s solo home run in the third inning. It was the third homer in as many days for Varsho, who’s tweaked his approach and is on a tear this spring with nine extra-base hits and a 1.486 OPS.
Davis Schneider noticed that Skubal, the reigning American League Cy Young winner, was amped from the outset.
“I feel like he's always in the zone,” said Schneider. “Those elite guys, they always get into the zone. Even if it’s a spring training game on March 14. The fact that he's pumping 98, 99 (m.p.h.) is pretty insane. I know he just came from the WBC, so it’s a different mindset, but he's still got it.”
Playing second base on Saturday also allowed Schneider a front-row view to Scherzer’s intensity, which was present despite the right-hander’s assertion that it’s only spring training.
“He gets into a different zone,” said Schneider. “It's the way he comes off the mound and the way he's talking to the pitching coaches. He's thinking about every single pitch, he's making smart decisions on why to throw a pitch to every hitter. So, he’s still thinking about it even though it’s March 14.”
