Scherzer eyeing series vs. Guardians for return to Blue Jays' rotation
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The Toronto Blue Jays may be getting a much-needed boost to their starting rotation for their upcoming series against the Cleveland Guardians.
Veteran righty and future Hall-of-Famer Max Scherzer is set to throw a side session on Sunday, and depending how that session goes, he is eyeing a return to the rotation in that series against Cleveland, manager John Schneider told reporters Saturday.
“We’d probably put a day in between them,” Schneider said of Scherzer and rotation-mate Eric Lauer. “They’re both lined up for Tuesday. We’re going to work around Max. If that means Lauer is a couple of days extra, that’s fine. If it means that Max does a couple of days extra, that’s fine. We’ll cross that bridge Sunday.”
Toronto plays a three-game set against the Guardians in Cleveland from Tuesday to Thursday.
Scherzer, 40, has been on the injured list since his first start of the season was cut short by lat soreness. The pain developed as a side effect of compensating for a nerve issue in his thumb, which has caused the lengthy stay on the injured list.
Toronto has asked a lot of its bullpen recently, and was forced to do so again in a 7-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox on Friday where spot starter Spencer Turnbull was pulled after working only two innings.
With Scherzer on the IL since March and Bowden Francis also sent to the IL earlier in June, relievers have started 13 games for Toronto so far this season.
Turnbull said he's not sure what his role will be when Scherzer comes back.
"We haven't really had a ton of discussions about that," he said. "I'm just trying to stay flexible and just do whatever they ask. I just want to do whatever I can to help the team.
"If Scherzer's ready to come back, that's awesome. He's one of the best ever to do it, so he'll help the team a lot when he gets up here."
Scherzer has made two successful starts in Triple-A on a rehab stint in recent weeks, firing 8.2 innings of two-run ball with 12 strikeouts.
For his career that has spanned 18 seasons, the dominant Scherzer has a 3.16 earned-run average with 3,408 strikeouts in 2,881.0 innings pitched. He's collected three Cy Young awards, led the league in wins four separate seasons and finished top five in Cy Young voting eight times.
Toronto enters Saturday's action at 40-35, three games out of the division lead in the AL East and alone in second in the AL wild-card standings.