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Blue Jays: Max Scherzer rehabs, Arjun Nimmala homers
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Photo credit: © Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Jul 9, 2026, 10:00 EDTUpdated: Jul 9, 2026, 03:00 EDT
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While the Toronto Blue Jays won 10-0 on Wednesday, it wasn’t a great day in the farm system.
Of the seven games played, only two games were won. One of those losses belonged to the Buffalo Bisons, as Max Scherzer struggled in his rehab outing, at least on the surface. Over four innings of work, the future Hall of Famer allowed five runs (four earned), striking out five and giving up a three-run home run.
Some of the underlying numbers were better. Scherzer generated a game-high 16 whiffs, seven more than the next highest total. He was also hit pretty hard, surrendering five hard-hit balls, including the aforementioned three-run home that came off the bat at 102.7 mph.
As for Scherzer’s velocity, he averaged 93.4 mph on his heater, with the pitch generating 10 of the 16 whiffs. Scherzer maxed out (pun intended) at 94.4 mph, while his slider generated three whiffs on six total pitches.
It wasn’t the worst start he could’ve had. It’ll be interesting to see if he gets one more outing with the Bisons, as the Jays are back down to four starters in their rotation.

Arjun Nimmala hits first Double-A home run

The Blue Jays’ 20th overall pick in 2023 missed pretty much all of June due to an injury. It was a shame, as he was on a tear after joining the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats. Over his 72 plate appearances, Nimmala was slashing .308/.375/.369 with four doubles for a 105 wRC+.
After some rehab games, Nimmala returned to the Fisher Cats for their doubleheader on Wednesday. In just his second plate appearance after being activated, Nimmala went deep for what was his first home run at the Double-A level.
It’s important for Nimmala to finish this season strong, as the 20-year-old shortstop could position himself to be a potential call-up as soon as next season. He’ll stick at shortstop, but it all depends on if he can continue to hit while keeping the strikeout rate down, because the power is certainly there.

Other notes…

The Bisons ended up losing that game 5-1, which is an improvement over their 18-3 loss on Tuesday, at least. It was a quiet night offensively, but CJ Van Eyk hurled five scoreless innings with four strikeouts. He seems to be on the door of a big league call up.
As for the Fisher Cats, they split their doubleheader. In the game Nimmala hit a home run, the Fisher Cats fell 3-2, as Gage Stanifer gave up three earned runs over three and one-third innings of work. All three runs were solo home runs, while he also walked four. It was probably his worst start since his first two of the season.
On the bright side, Nick Goodwin became the 10th player in the organization to hit double-digit home runs, blasting his 10th of the season. That was it for their offence, save for a Carter Cunningham single. 
The second game of the doubleheader went better for the Fisher Cats, defeating the Portland Sea Dogs 6-2. Cunningham hit his 13th home run of the season (his third in Double-A), while Goodwin was 3-3 with two doubles. Hedbert Perez, Dub Gleed, and Cutter Coffey all hit doubles as well. Javen Coleman got the final three outs, striking out two to drop his season ERA to 2.86.
It wasn’t a good day at the office for the Vancouver Canadians, as they fell 7-1. They mustered just four hits, three of which were singles (one belonged to Tucker Toman). The positive from this game is that Holden Wilkerson threw six one-run innings with four strikeouts.
The Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays also lost, dropping an 8-2 decision to the Lakeland Flying Tigers. After Blaine Bullard hit his seventh home run and 13th double of the season in the series opener on Tuesday, he managed to hit his 14th double on Wednesday.
While they scored just two runs, the D-Jays actually out-hit their opponents. Bullard was one of four players with two hits, while Jean Joseph had a three-hit performance. They just couldn’t drive in any runs.
One Dominican Summer League team won, the other one lost. The DSL Blue Jays Blue fell 11-3 to the DSL Pirates Gold, with Juan Caricote going 2-3 with his fourth double of the season. On the other hand, the DSL Blue Jays Red defeated the DSL Arizona Red by a score of 4-3, as Darwin Nuñez had a two-hit performance with a double.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
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