It’s usually a bad time when a position player is on the mound. Last night, the Toronto Blue Jays needed two position players to get them through the night, as the Royals put up 20 runs on the Jays to win 20-1.

Max Scherzer was tasked with the start, and the veteran right-hander produced the worst start of his career, allowing seven hits, one walk, two home runs, and seven earned runs through 2/3 of an inning. He struck out two Royals batters, but after 45 pitches, manager John Schneider lifted Scherzer in favour of a bullpen day.

Lead-off hitter Carter Jensen produced a double before Bobby Witt Jr. smacked a single to bring him home (and then promptly stole second). A Vinnie Pasquantino double, a walk, and a home run to Salvador Perez made it a 5-1 game, and Kansas City kept rolling. Jac Caglianone would strike out to get the first out on the board, but Michael Massey would homer to make it 7-1. Although Scherzer would get another punchout under his belt, a double to Jensen (again) would be his last bat-bat before Schneider turned to Braydon Fisher to finish the inning.

“Everything that could go wrong went wrong,” Scherzer said postgame. “I took a haymaker to the face. I made some pitches and they got hits on them. Nothing you can do in those situations. I just got beat in all facets of the game.”

For Scherzer, he had a few calls not go his way, particularly on the walk to Maikel Garcia, where his fastball caught a part of the bottom portion of the strikezone, but umpire James Jean called it ball four. Pitching coach Pete Walker would take exception to it a few batters later during a mound visit and was promptly tossed.

Fisher, Tommy Nance, Yariel Rodriguez, and Brendon Little would chalk up 5 1/3 more innings before the position players took over. Tyler Heineman would go first, and across 1 1/3 innings and 33 pitches, he allowed 13 hits, one home run, and 10 earned runs to allow the Royals to pass that 20 threshold. Isiah Kiner-Falefa would be tasked with the final two outs in the bottom of the eighth and was clean, generating a pop-out and a flyout.

For the bats, it was George Springer who got the momentum going for Toronto. The veteran bat smacked a leadoff home run off Royals starter Michael Lorenzen to give the Jays an early lead. His 418-foot blast over the left centre field wall would be the lone run, as Lorenzen dominated the Blue Jays over the next 7 2/3 innings, striking out four with just three hits and three walks against him while allowing just the one run. The right-hander generated seven groundouts and eight flyouts to get through the outing before handing the reins over to Luinder Avila, who struck out one and pitched a clean 1 1/3 innings. Only Springer (two hits) and Davis Schneider found the hit column.

Following the game, Schneider also announced that Jose Berrios will be pitching out of the bullpen, “he can be an option out of the pen.” After last night, Berrios might be needed to eat some innings this weekend, considering the bullpen usage yesterday.

Toronto will look to bounce back today and clinch a postseason spot, considering the Yankees and Tigers lost last night. Shane Bieber gets the nod while Noah Cameron will start for the Royals.