Max Scherzer allows 7 runs while getting 2 outs, raising concerns for Blue Jays as playoffs near

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Max Scherzer has struggled to escape the first inning unscathed. On Friday night, he didn't get out of the first at all.

The veteran Blue Jays right-hander was pulled after two-thirds of an inning, the shortest start without an injury of his 18-year career. Scherzer allowed seven runs on seven hits while getting two outs, and Toronto went on to lose 20-1 to the Kansas City Royals.

Scherzer said he wasn't overly concerned.

“We’ll deep dive and figure out what was going on, look at more advanced things,” he said. “But when I went back and looked at the location of some of the pitches, I’m actually OK with it. In that regard, you kind of flush it and move on.”

Blue Jays manager John Schneider called it “a weird outing” from a player who's likely bound for the Hall of Fame.

“Over the course of his career you don’t see that very often from Max, barring an injury,” Schneider said. “They came out swinging and he kind of just left things in the middle.”

Toronto leads the AL East, and the club would love to have an effective Scherzer in the playoffs. The 41-year-old is a two-time World Series champion, winning titles with Washington in 2019 and Texas in 2023.

But this has been an outlier of a season for Scherzer.

He has a 5.06 ERA — by far the worst of his career — in 16 starts. And the beginning of games has been a particular issue. Scherzer has allowed multiple runs in the first inning in each of his last four starts, and his ERA over that span is 10.93.

He does not have a scoreless outing and has completed seven innings just twice.

On Friday, Scherzer allowed the first six batters to reach, yielding a three-run homer to Salvador Perez and giving up five runs before recording an out. Michael Massey hit a one-out, two-run homer to make it 7-1, and after Carter Jensen hit a ground-rule double — his second two-bagger of the inning — Scherzer was pulled.

“You never expect Max to not get through the first inning. But I think you want to see a little bit better location, you want to see a little bit more stuff on the breaking ball,” Schneider said. “They kind of came out hot. It comes down to executing pitches and putting them where he wants to.”

Scherzer believes his location wasn’t off by much.

“There’s only one pitch that’s in the middle of the plate,” he said. “Outside of that, it’s not like I’m hanging sliders, hanging curveballs right in the middle of the plate. They got to some pitches that were in a good area that they put a better swing on. Made a good pitch, they made a better swing.”

Schneider doesn’t expect Friday’s outing to change anything about Scherzer’s future in the rotation.

“It’s a weird outing to go two-thirds of an inning and throw a lot of pitches,” he said. “But I don’t think that will affect him going forward. It won’t make his pitch count any lower. Going forward he’ll be on a normal workload and kind of normal pitch count.”

What does Scherzer look to do going forward?

“Play well and win,” he said.

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