TORONTO – The news officially dropped a couple of hours before game time and it was a major blow for the Texas Rangers — ace right-hander Max Scherzer to the 15-day injured list with a right teres major muscle strain, done for the regular season and unlikely to pitch in the post-season.
Already beset by injuries and trying to undo the damage of a 4-16 stretch that ceded top spot in the American League West to the Houston Astros, their road forward suddenly became tougher.
“This clubhouse has been unbelievable through all the injuries we’ve had, especially this second half, and we’ll continue to persevere, focus forward and that’s who they are,” manager Bruce Bochy said, rejecting any hint of woe-is-me sentiment after losing yet another top-of-rotation starter. “They’ve shown how resilient they can be all year. The resolve in them, it’s something I’m very proud of, how these guys have not dwelled on injuries or setbacks, things like that.”
The Rangers then went out and demonstrated just that, Nathaniel Lowe and Robbie Grossman taking Yusei Kikuchi deep while Jordan Montgomery cruised through seven shutout innings in a 10-0 pounding of the Toronto Blue Jays, who must now find the same resolve shown by their guests.
A third straight loss, this one before a stunningly small Rogers Centre crowd of 25,495 that booed the home side from the mid-point onward, dropped the Blue Jays (80-66) a game-and-a-half back of the wild-card leading Rangers (81-64), and a full-game back of the Seattle Mariners (81-65), who beat the Los Angeles Angels 3-2.
Since the Mariners, like the Rangers, hold the tiebreaker, they are essentially two games up on the Blue Jays, who’ll look to salvage the finale of a thus-far fruitless four-game set Thursday when Kevin Gausman starts against Nate Eovaldi.
Their resilience will continue to be tested from here on out, as the Boston Red Sox, against whom they’re 3-7 so far, check-in for three games beginning Friday before six games versus each of the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays, whom they’re both 3-4 against, closing out the year.
If the Blue Jays are who they say they are, this is the time to prove it.
The Rangers, now winners of five straight, are emerging from a period of struggle that similarly tested them. Consider that in the span of a week at the end of July they lost the spectacular Corey Seager, Heim and Eovaldi to injury, having earlier in the year lost starters Jacob deGrom and Jake Odorizzi for the year.
Josh Jung and Brad Miller went down at the beginning of August while Adolis Garcia, who had been leading the American League in RBIs with 100 at the time, hit the IL last week. No wonder they only won four times in three weeks.
Losing Scherzer, acquired in a deadline blockbuster meant to bolster a rotation in need of a stabilizer, is in that sense old hat. How they cover his spot is a moving target — Andrew Heaney, a Blue Jays target this off-season, Martin Perez and Cody Bradford are candidates to move from the bullpen to the rotation, and Bochy mentioned that the Rangers could use an opener, too.
Regardless, they didn’t let his loss deflate them, jumping Kikuchi in his second time through the order when Seager, a game-changing force in this series, walked to open the fourth. Grossman, who opened the scoring with a two-run homer off Hyun Jin Ryu in Tuesday’s 6-3 Rangers win, followed with a base hit and one out later, Heim’s RBI single opened the scoring.
Kikuchi couldn’t limit the damage there, instead serving a three-run shot to Lowe that made it 4-0. In the fifth, Seager played catalyst again with a one-out single ahead of Grossman’s two-run shot that made it 6-0. An Evan Carter RBI single in the sixth and Mitch Garver three-run drive in the ninth completed the pounding.
It was the kind of big-blow offence the Blue Jays have lacked all season and is especially glaring when they face elite competition.
While their power took a hit with injuries to Matt Chapman, who did another full day of work Wednesday and could be back this weekend, and Danny Jansen, who is done for the season after surgery to repair a finger fracture, at issue is right now they lack a driving force in the lineup akin to Seager.
Bo Bichette was having that calibre of season until he suffered patellar tendonitis in his right knee on July 31 against Baltimore and later a right quad strain on Aug. 27, returning Friday. To expect him to pick right up where he left off was unrealistic and he’s now in an 0-for-16 slide. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ended an 0-for-11 with an infield single in the first but made outs in his next two at-bats before getting pulled from the game. George Springer is 3-for-11.
Santiago Espinal and Ernie Clement led the way with two singles apiece but they’re not supposed to carry the lineup and there was precious little offence to speak of beyond them.
