Blue Jays blast D'backs as Max Scherzer's long-awaited return could be as soon as next week
The boxscore will show that Eric Lauer made his fourth start of the season Wednesday night at the Rogers Centre, allowing one earned run over five-plus innings in a blowout 8-1 Blue Jays win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
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However, with due respect to the lefty's latest handiwork — which included eight strikeouts on Wednesday — the Jays are hoping and intending this latest outing was just keeping the rubber warm in that spot of the rotation for the long-awaited return of it's big off-season pitching acquisition, Max Scherzer.
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With that in mind, as the Jays breezed to their second in a row over the D'Backs, the bigger development in the zoomed-out view of their season unfolded down in Worcester, Mass., where Scherzer was brilliant in what surely had the feel of his final rehab start with the Jays' triple-A affiliate Buffalo Bisons.
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The 40-year-old veteran reached his intended pitch limit of 75 and did so by striking out eight Red Sox hitters over 4.1 scoreless innings. Assuming everything is OK with Scherzer's bothersome thumb, returning to a big league mound for just his second start with the Jays next Tuesday in Cleveland is a real possibility.
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'Having the name, having the competitiveness, having the stuff,' Jays manager John Schneider said when asked prior to Wednesday's game what Scherzer could bring to his team. 'It would be huge just to have him, knowing that you have that calibre of pitcher waiting on your staff every fifth day would be a nice shot in the arm.'
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It would be much more than that, of course. The Jays rotation has been in tatters over the past month, held together by overusing the bullpen at times and sticking with struggling Bowden Francis. That's why Lauer's effort was so critical on Wednesday, causing minimal strain on a bullpen that will be asked to cover multiple innings here on Friday against the Chicago White Sox.
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In fact, Lauer has been so reliable for the Jays that, down the road, he could slide into the other black hole of the rotation.
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Bigger things first, though. When you have a three-time Cy Young Award winner and two-time World Series champion ready to contribute, you tend to get a little bit excited if you are the Blue Jays.
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'That would be good,' Schneider said with a smile and no further explanation when next Tuesday was raised as a possibility for Scherzer, who hasn't pitched in the bigs since a three-inning outing on March 29. 'That would line up nicely.'
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It would also give the Jays the boost that they need at a time of the season when wear and tear starts to hit pitching staffs around baseball.
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And as easy as it is to forget, given that Scherzer has spent 70 games on the injured list with that wonky thumb, the Jays paid him $15.5 million US on a one-year deal for a reason.
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Prior to Wednesday's win, the Jays' 14th in their past 19 to move their record to 40-33, Schneider was asked what it was like to be on the other side when Scherzer's name came up as a probable pitcher for the opposition.
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