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Instant Reaction: Max Scherzer turns back the clock in dominant Blue Jays’ victory
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Photo credit: © Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Aug 30, 2026, 16:15 EDTUpdated: Aug 30, 2026, 16:47 EDT
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Max Scherzer turned back the clock in the Toronto Blue Jays’ series finale against the Seattle Mariners.
After winning the first two games of the series, the Blue Jays defeated the Mariners 7-0 on Sunday, their first series sweep since June. But with how Scherzer was pitching, they only needed one of those runs. Let’s take a look at what happened in this one!
Scherzer, 42, struck out the side in the top of the first, a precursor for what was to come. In the Blue Jays’ half of the first, Brett Bateman drew a lead-off walk and two batters later, Alejandro Kirk stepped up with Bateman now on second. On a 0-2 pitch thrown by Logan Gilbert, Kirk sent the ball over the left-centre field fence for a 2-0 lead.
The result was far from determined though. Neither team scored over the next three innings, but Vladimir Guerrero Jr. drove in the Blue Jays’ third run with a double in the bottom of the fifth. Then in the sixth, Kazuma Okamoto hit a solo home run to take a 4-0 lead.
Scherzer made it through seven innings, allowing just one hit, a walk, and striking out 10 batters. It was by far the best start in his Blue Jays’ tenure, and oh boy do the Blue Jays need him to perform like this down the stretch.
The Jays tacked on three runs in the bottom of the eighth, as Andrés Giménez hit a bases loaded single and Bateman and RBI double with runners on the corner. In the final two innings, the Blue Jays’ bullpen struck out five of the last seven Mariners to come to the plate.

Takeaways…

This was a classic Max Scherzer performance. The future Hall of Famer pitched seven innings for the third time since joining the team before the 2025 season, with his most-recent seven inning outing coming on August 14th, 2025. A few weeks before that, Scherzer struck out 11 in seven innings against his former team, the Detroit Tigers. Scherzer generated 17 whiffs on 47 total swings.
More importantly though, Scherzer took sole possession of the ninth-most strikeouts in Major League Baseball history, surpassing Gaylord Perry with his 10th strikeout of the game. He trails his former teammate Justin Verlander by 19 strikeouts.
The strikeouts continued with Scherzer out of the game. Spencer Miles replaced the veteran, striking out three of the four batters he faced. With the game out of reach, Braydon Fisher struck out two in a clean inning.
Their bats were hot too. Brett Bateman reached in three of his four plate appearances, hitting a double and walking twice. Alejandro Kirk and George Springer each had a two-hit game, with Kirk hitting his eighth blast of the season. Springer and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. each hit a double.
Kazuma Okamoto has also started to get hot recently, just barely hitting his 28th home run of the season in the bottom of the sixth. If he, Kirk, Springer, and Guerrero Jr. can get hot at the same time, the Blue Jays may be the team that captures the final wild card spot. All in all, eight of the nine players to start this game had at least one hit.
This was the Blue Jays first sweep since mid-June, as they won all three games against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. It’s also their first home sweep since the season opener against the Athletics.
The Blue Jays will enter Ohio a game and a half back of the Cleveland Guardians for the final wild card spot. It’s pretty simple, they need to find a way to at least win the series, but a second consecutive sweep also sounds nice.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, DFOEdmonton, and DFOCalgary. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
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