PHILADELPHIA — Career strikeout No. 3,516, good for 10th all-time, was classic Max Scherzer. He jumped out ahead of Kyle Schwarber 1-2, tried to get the selective slugger to chase with a slider and curveball, and then completed the milestone punchout with a 94.3 m.p.h. fastball at the bottom of the zone that froze the Philadelphia Phillies’ leadoff hitter.
Even in the midst of a whack-a-mole season of ailments, the 42-year-old future Hall of Famer is still capable of big outings and big moments, of which passing Walter Johnson certainly qualifies.
Still, the margins can be thin, and they were in that fateful sixth inning, as Schwarber’s strikeout was immediately followed by back-to-back home runs from Trea Turner and Bryce Harper that erased a 2-0 deficit and knocked Scherzer from the game. Spencer Miles followed, and three hits and a sacrifice fly later, the Phillies had two more runs to take the lead. But the Blue Jays didn’t relent as an evening that began with Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s promising return eventually ended in a 7-5 win thanks to Nathan Lukes’ two-run homer in the 11th.
Between the win and moving past Johnson, Scherzer got what he wanted Saturday.
“I'd be lying to you to say I didn't (think about the milestone), of course,” he said. “You start mentioning the top 10 all-time in strikeouts, man, there are some really big-time names there. To now be a part of that group, it's special, especially because of the way we did it today. I came here and I wanted to win. That was number one. But then to also get this milestone in a win, it always feels so much better when that happens and you're able to enjoy a little bit more with everybody.”
The Blue Jays rallied to tie the game 4-4 in the eighth inning when Andres Gimenez’s two-run double off lefty Jose Alvarado plated Guerrero, who walked, and George Springer, who pinch-ran for Alejandro Kirk after a walk of his own. Gimenez and Luis Arraez then traded sacrifice flies in the 10th before Lukes took Chase Shugart deep.
Lazaro Estrada, the Blue Jays’ fifth reliever, then handled the bottom half for his first career save, intentionally balking Brandon Marsh to third with two outs in the inning, a fourth series win around Thursday’s makeup-game loss at Wrigley Field.
“We're playing well and you never know when new people come in and how they fit with one another and how guys feed off of one another,” said manager John Schneider. “They're playing loose and they're playing hard. … I can't give them enough credit for how they're going about it. You can kind of feel the camaraderie building a little bit with some guys that are around each other for the first time, so that's exciting to look forward to.”
Even with the two homers at the end of his outing, Scherzer continued his strong run since returning from the injured list July 27, allowing five hits with four strikeouts in his 5.1 frames before a crowd of 40,010. He’s now allowed four runs on 13 hits and four walks in 14 innings with 13 strikeouts across three starts and looks like the capable starter he’s believed he can be throughout his various injuries.
With continued health, far from a given with the way his past few seasons have gone, Gaylord Perry’s 3,534 strikeouts at ninth all-time are in range while a really good run might push him past former teammate Justin Verlander, who’s retiring at the end of this season, for No. 8 at 3,554.
“I feel good,” said Scherzer. “I never once lost belief in my ability if I'm healthy, to be able to go out there and get outs and compete and try to win ballgames. I've had little ailments pop up, OK, great, move on. No one feels sorry for you, so you've got to get back out here and start competing. If I can start making some turns in the rotation and get going, I'll continue to get stronger and stronger and be able to finish these outings even stronger, pitch deeper into the ballgame. … It's right there in my sights to be able to finish outings like that.”
Schneider said before the game that it’s easy to sometimes forget about all of Scherzer’s accomplishments because “he's still really, really competitive,” but periodically he’s reminded about the right-hander’s greatness.
“He's going to go to the Hall of Fame and I'll remember Game 7 of the World Series before it started, standing next to him and I said it's pretty cool, you've got Max Scherzer going out there giving it everything he has,” said Schneider. “I'll make sure I get some things signed by him and things like that. But right now you think about him getting back off the IL and how he's throwing the ball.”
Vlad returns
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hobbled to first base on an eighth-inning groundout Tuesday night in Houston and the pain in his right hamstring was so bad, “that I had to have an MRI because I really wanted to find out what was going on,” the first baseman revealed Saturday.
The exam revealed “a little bit of inflammation, but I can go, I can play with it like that,” and after three days of rest, he returned and made an immediate impact, hammering a 3-1 Aaron Nola fastball down and in, just off the plate, 408 feet to left field, opening the scoring in the first inning.
Guerrero’s seventh homer of the season was also his first homer since July 11 and he followed up that good swing with an RBI single in the third laced to left field at 104.9 m.p.h. That hit came on a changeup from Nola, but he elevated both pitches, as well as a third in the fifth, when he flew out to right field. After the walk in the eighth, he grounded out in the 10th.
Feeling good in his legs is “basically everything,” Guerrero said through interpreter Hector Lebron. “That's where all my power comes from. So obviously if I'm healthy in my legs, my hamstring in this case, then I can use all my strength, my power. But it's just got to be 100 per cent, or at least close to 100 per cent.”
That showed up on both his hits, as getting to pitches down “has to be in the back side,” he explained. “If I didn’t use my back side, it would be a groundball to third base or a comebacker to the pitcher.”
Guerrero’s hamstring issues first flared up on him in Washington on July 28, he missed two games then, and then three more this week. With nine games missed this year, he’s already set a career high.
For context, Guerrero missed only 18 games total from 2020 through 2025.
Schneider said Guerrero “wasn't in a rush” at the plate Saturday and noted that “when you feel a little bit better physically, your mechanics usually get into line a little bit, especially with the swing that he has. We'll, I don't want to say monitor, but we'll watch him going forward. I don't think it's anything that's a cause of concern with the hamstring, but when you're feeling a little better, yeah, your mechanics line up.”
Hoffman missed
As much as Kevin Gausman meant to the Blue Jays, there’s a case to be made that the player sent off ahead of the trade deadline that will be missed the most is Jeff Hoffman.
In five of six games since he was sent to the Minnesota Twins for a prospect package fronted by righty Dasan Hill, John Schneider has had a tough time covering leverage spots that would have belonged to Hoffman. In turn, that’s both put more pressure on Tyler Rogers and Louis Varland while increasing the demands on Fisher, Mason Fluharty and Miles.
In the midst of 17 games in 17 days, within a wider span of 30 in 31, the Blue Jays have had to find creative ways through games, which is why Estrada and Matt Waldron found themselves pitching in late-game leverage during Friday’s 5-4 win, which Rogers closed out.
Miles, whom the Blue Jays want to shorten up into one-inning stints, Fisher and Fluharty are the likeliest candidates to fill the void left by Hoffman, but there are no candidates as effective as them to backfill their previous roles.
Unless someone emerges, that will be a challenge the Blue Jays will need to deal with for the rest of the season.
Arrighetti on pause
Spencer Arrighetti, who came out of a rehab outing Thursday with triple-A Buffalo after experiencing a recurrence of the symptoms in his right foot that landed him on the injured list, is considering a second cortisone shot to ease his symptoms.
The right-hander, acquired Monday from Houston for Daulton Varsho, said he felt the foot issues in his second inning but decided to push through and then the symptoms got worse in the third. He feels the nerve issue on the bottom of his foot which makes driving off the rubber challenging.
“As of right now, we're kind of just trying to find ways to keep it comfortable and in the cleats that I wear, try to find a little bit more support for that side of my foot,” he said. “Might entertain another injection, just to see if that helps. The nice thing about that is it really doesn't require a shutdown.”
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