Max Scherzer implodes as Jays get exposed in putrid loss

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A playoff berth will have to wait for the Blue Jays as fans await the day when they return to the high standard of play that vaulted them into first place overall in the American League.

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Three losses in a row — punctuated by Friday night’s humiliating 20-1 setback to the Royals in Kansas City — have highlighted how south this team can quickly go when its hitting is elusive, when its pitching is porous and when frustrations mount.

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Eight games remain in the regular season, eight opportunities for the Blue Jays to regain their form.

Friday night presented an opportunity for Toronto to officially book its ticket into baseball’s second season. Instead, it revealed how bad things can get when an accomplished starter such as Max Scherzer turns into Max Domi, which is no slight on the hockey player.

Regrettably, anyone other than Scherzer would have been a better option against the host Kansas City Royals. Even Pete Walker probably would have fared better than his veteran right-hander before the Jays pitching coach got tossed in a truly embarrassing first inning.

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Despite the ugliness of the game, all was not lost for the Jays, who remain three games on the Yankees for first in the AL East following New York’s loss in Baltimore. The Jays’ magic number to clinch a playoff berth is 3. To win the AL East, it’s down to 5.

The slumping Tigers, meanwhile, who are chasing the Jays for the top overall seed in the AL, also lost.

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The following are three takeaways from a truly humbling night for the Blue Jays, who needed not one, but two, position players — Tyler Heineman and Isiah Kiner-Falefa — to get the final six outs and end the misery after allowing 27 Royals hits.

Mad Max’s unmitigated disaster

Scherzer was given a 1-0 lead when he took to the hill for the home half of the first inning, only to fritter it away in alarming fashion.

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No longer can Scherzer overpower hitters, relying instead on his guile and location. He had neither in this one, giving up two doubles and a single to the first three Royals he faced and was suddenly trailing 2-1.

A borderline pitch on a full count led to a walk to Maikel Garcia — the only one of 13 Royals batters to be held hitless — prompting Walker to come to the aid of his embattled starter. Walker took his objections a bit too far and was ejected.

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One batter later, Salvador Perez went yard for a three-run blast as K.C. took a 5-1 lead. All with none out.

In his 16th start of the season, the longball surrendered to Perez was the 17th given up by Scherzer. Home run No. 18 came later in the inning on a two-run belt by Michael Massey, which was sandwiched between a couple of strikeouts.

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But when leadoff man Carter Jensen hit a ground-rule double, the rookie’s second two-bagger of the inning, Scherzer was lifted after 45 pitches.

Based on the first inning alone, there’s no way Scherzer belongs to start in the post-season. But he’ll likely get one more start before the playoffs and it will, no doubt, be an important one.

Birthday boy George

On his 36th birthday, the ageless George Springer celebrated the occasion by stroking his 63rd career leadoff home run, a belt that increased his season total to 30.

Just when many thought the former World Series MVP was washed up, Springer has changed the narrative almost from the moment the Jays decided to reinsert him at the top of the order. He’s hands down the club’s most valuable player and will garner league MVP votes.

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At no point during his career has Springer compiled a .300 batting average and Friday’s 2-for-3 night raised his season figure to .304.

Springer managed two of the Jays three hits on the night, yet another alarming trend so late in the season. In fact, the Jays have managed just two runs and 11 hits in their past three games.

3. Beleaguered bullpen

Scherzer’s early exit did the Jays’ bullpen absolutely no favours as they ran through four relievers before resorting to position players to finish the game.

The best of the lot was Braydon Fisher who, when summoned from the bullpen, just gets outs. Fisher came in for Scherzer and secured the final out of the first, then threw a scoreless second, giving up one hit.

In 48 innings this season, the rookie Fisher has given up 14 runs for a healthy 2.63 ERA.

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Heineman came in to pitch the seventh inning in a 10-1 game and that’s when the evening turned into more of a joke. Literally lobbing the ball into the plate, the Royals tagged him for four runs in the seventh, then six more in the eighth — on eight consecutive hits — as he managed just one out.

Kiner-Falefa relieved Heineman and his 65-mph ‘heater’ was good enough to retire the two Royals he faced.

Maybe he should have started.

Up next

In the Jays’ penultimate road game of the regular season on Saturday, Shane Bieber will make his sixth start (7:10 p.m.). Bieber hasn’t been as dominant since his Toronto debut in Miami, but the Jays will need him to at least eat some innings following Friday’s ugliness.

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