Another ugly Max Scherzer 1st inning, another pitiful hitting night as Jays whipped by Bosox​on September 25, 2025 at 1:49 am

In his final start of the regular season, the question that must be posed is whether Wednesday night’s outing was the last for Max Scherzer as a Blue Jay.

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For the second straight start, the veteran right-hander was shelled in the first inning, allowing three runs on five hits as the visiting Boston Red went on to pummel the Blue Jays 7-1.

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Combined with the Yankees’ 8-1 win over the White Sox, the Jays now find themselves tied for the AL East lead with the New Yorkers. They still hold the tiebreaker, but will be a moot point unless the Jays get straightened out over the final four days.

Unlike his previous start in Kansas City, Scherzer did finish the first inning, then put up zeroes in the next three before surrendering a leadoff homer in the fifth inning, his last of the night. In all, he gave up four runs on 10 hits and struck out five.

However, the Jays’ once deep and high-end rotation isn’t looking so promising and neither is the team’s overall fortunes heading into the final four games of the regular season.

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Back-to-back losses to Boston dropped the Jays’ record to 1-6 in their past seven, with offence being the primary culprit. In each of those six losses, the Jays have been held to one run or less while, collectively, they went 22-for-181 at the plate — a gruesome .121 average.

As recently as a month ago, Scherzer seemed like a slam dunk to start in the playoffs. All bets are now off.

He has been used out of the bullpen in the past. If the Jays happen to find themselves in a best two-of-three wild-card playoff, the odds of Scherzer making a start don’t appear to be good.

The following are three takeaways from a night in which the Jays avoided being shut out when Isiah Kiner-Falefa led off the ninth inning with a home run, and Alejandro Kirk, perhaps fittingly the way things have been going, was thrown out at first base to record the game’s final out on a throw from right field no less.

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PAGING VLADDY

No player is wearing the mounting losses more than Vladimir Guerrero Jr., the face of the franchise who is now under increased scrutiny with every miserable at-bat.

To put it mildly, he’s been scuffling.

His frustration finally got the better of him when he was tossed from the game following a called third strike to lead off the seventh inning. Replays clearly showed the baseball catching a bit of the strike zone. Guerrero objected and was summarily tossed.

His night began on a soft groundout en route to an 0-for-3 night at the plate.

No one is missing Bo Bichette’s presence more than Vladdy, who needs to step up and handle the pressure more effectively.

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RETURN OF TONY TATERS

Underwhelming best described Anthony Santander’s return to the lineup.

The switch-hitting slugger hit fifth in the order as his audition for post-season consideration began with additional more in store over the final four games.

It’s hard to judge a guy on one night who hadn’t appeared in a big-league game since May 29.

In his return, Santander was late on pitches and basically posed no threat, pretty much mirroring the rest of his teammates.

He struck out twice against Boston’s staff ace in left-hander Garrett Crochet, who was brilliant in limiting the Jays to three hits, while striking out six in completing eight shutout innings.

BULLPEN BERRIOS

And to think Jose Berrios was the Jays’ opening day starter and was on the mound the previous time the club played in a post-season game, but credit the veteran for maintaining his professionalism in a season marred by disappointment.

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Berrios made his first appearance out of the pen when he started the seventh inning in relief of Scherzer and Brendon Little.

In good times or bad, Berrios will always battle and he certainly lived up to the expectations when facing the Bosox.

As a starter, Berrios’ biggest bugaboo was his penchant for surrendering home runs. It surfaced again with two outs and two on in the eighth when No. 9 hitter Carlos Narvaez took him deep for a three-run blast.

Any late-game comeback, which seemed virtually impossible in that moment given Toronto’s ineptness, went out the proverbial window.

The Rogers Centre roof was closed and it was a big game for the Jays, but the announced crowd was 39,438. In other words, it wasn’t a sellout.

Perhaps the bandwagon is losing passengers.

Up next

As of late Wednesday, the Jays hadn’t decided on their starter for Thursday’s series finale (7:07 p.m.) following the decision to push back Shane Bieber to Friday when Tampa comes to town to close out the regular season with a weekend series … The Jays have not been swept at home this season, but as they say, there’s always a first time.

fzicarelli@postmedia.com

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