TORONTO — A quick Max Scherzer story, courtesy of Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider:
Back in spring training, the veteran right-hander was talking to Schneider about the Boston Red Sox lineup and proceeded to go down the order, listing exactly how he would pitch to each hitter. This wasn’t just anecdotal, though. Scherzer backed up his thoughts with an array of numbers.
Schneider wondered if Scherzer had actually memorized those stats and so he went and looked it up himself.
“He was right,” Schneider recalled with a smile. “He’s really, really prepared.”
Just another cool page to add to the book on the future Hall-of-Famer. Scherzer’s baseball acumen has left Blue Jays teammates and coaches in awe all season, but on Saturday against the Kansas City Royals, he also impressed them on the mound.
The 41-year-old authored arguably his best start in a Blue Jays uniform to lift the club to a 4-2 win over the Royals in front of 41,842 at Rogers Centre.
Scherzer was in control for most of his six innings, but when he ran into trouble in the third inning, it offered a closer look at his preparation and how it can manifest in a game.
The right-hander allowed a double to No. 9 hitter Kyle Isbel, who promptly stole third base. Scherzer then hit the next batter, Jonathan India, to bring Royals superstar Bobby Witt Jr. to the plate in a key situation in a scoreless game.
The Blue Jays’ right-hander challenged Witt Jr. with two straight fastballs before getting him to foul a slider into the glove of catcher Tyler Heineman. Scherzer then broke out his curveball — a pitch he had only used twice to that point in the game — on a 1-1 count to Vinnie Pasquantino that induced a weak fly ball to right field that ended the threat.
It was the same pitch, in an almost identical spot, that Scherzer used to get Pasquantino to fly out to centre field in the first inning.
The only blip on Scherzer’s line was a solo home run he surrendered to Salvador Perez in the sixth inning. In total, the right-hander allowed just the one run on five hits over six innings, walking none and striking out five. He tossed 84 pitches and featured a fastball that maxed out at 95.4 m.p.h. while sitting sat at 93.6 m.p.h.
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Factor in his previous start — a seven-inning, three-run, 11-strikeout performance against the Tigers — and this is the Scherzer the Blue Jays hoped they’d see when they signed him to a one-year, $15.5-million deal in the off-season.
Meanwhile, the Blue Jays’ offence provided just enough support to help Scherzer collect win No. 218 on his resume and got to Royals starter Noah Cameron by playing the smallest of small ball in the third inning.
Myles Straw opened the frame by reaching base with a perfect push bunt to second and here’s what followed: Heineman hit by pitch, Joey Loperfido sacrifice bunt, Davis Schneider RBI single to cash in two runs, and, after advancing to second base on an error by right fielder John Rave and then stealing third base, Schneider scored later in the inning on Bo Bichette’s hard single to right field.
Ernie Clement added an insurance run when he cashed in Loperfido with an RBI single in the seventh inning off Royals reliever Steven Cruz.
