Max Scherzer's 5-1 Win Shows Blue Jays Failure
Wednesday was the template: one run allowed, timely contact, no errors. That is exactly why the series loss to Detroit looks worse.
The most irritating thing about Wednesday is that it made sense.
That is the take.
The Blue Jays beat the Detroit Tigers 5-1, and nothing about it required fantasy baseball, a weather event, or a committee of historians to explain it.
Max Scherzer gave them 5.0 innings, 1 earned run, and 3 strikeouts.
The pitching totals were 1 earned run and 6 strikeouts.
The defense made 0 errors.
The offense scored in the fourth, fifth, and sixth.
There it is.
A normal win.
Which is exactly why losing 2 of 3 in the series should annoy everyone.
The Scherzer line is not the whole point
Max Scherzer was on the mound for Detroit’s only scoring play, in the top of the first.
Riley Greene singled on a ground ball to center fielder Brett Bateman. Colt Keith scored. Greene went to second.
That gave Detroit a 1-0 lead.
And then the game did not become Tuesday.
That matters.
Scherzer’s full line was 5.0 innings, 1 earned run, and 3 strikeouts. Spencer Miles was listed with 2.0 innings, 0 earned runs, and 1 strikeout. Louis Varland had 1.0 inning, 0 earned runs, and 2 strikeouts. Mason Fluharty had 1.0 inning, 0 earned runs, and 0 strikeouts.
No need to decorate it.
Toronto allowed 1 run.
That should be enough to win most nights when the offense does anything resembling its job.
On Wednesday, it did.
That is not a parade route. It is a baseline.
The Blue Jays are not in a position where baselines should be treated like breakthroughs.
The offense was practical, which is allowed
The best part of Wednesday was that Toronto did not need one swing to excuse eight innings of waiting around.
The fourth inning was the turn.
Ernie Clement hit a sacrifice fly to center off Keider Montero, scoring Kazuma Okamoto. Myles Straw followed with a line-drive single to left, scoring Josh Smith.
That made the game feel adult.
In the fifth, George Springer singled sharply to right off Tyler Holton. Brett Bateman scored. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. moved to second.
In the sixth, Brandon Valenzuela reached on a fielder’s choice off Drew Sommers. Ernie Clement scored, Valenzuela went to second, and shortstop John Peck was charged with a throwing error. Nathan Lukes then singled on a soft ground ball to pitcher Drew Sommers, scoring Valenzuela and moving Bateman to second.
That is not a lineup kicking down a door.
It is a lineup finding the handle.
Bateman went 2-for-4. Straw went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Springer, Lukes, and Straw each drove in a run. Clement drove in a run with the sacrifice fly. Valenzuela’s sixth-inning plate appearance produced another run in the scoring summary.
Toronto finished with 5 runs on 9 hits.
Again: normal.
Again: useful.
Again: where was this when the series was still there to be taken?
The series loss is worse because Wednesday was available
Monday was a 6-5 loss.
Tuesday was a 10-1 loss.
Wednesday was a 5-1 win.
Those are not three unrelated postcards from the baseball universe. They are the series.
The Blue Jays did not run into three impossible nights. They played one close game, one ugly game, and one clean game.
The clean game coming last does not erase the order.
It indicts the whole thing.
Because Wednesday showed that Detroit could be held down. Wednesday showed that Toronto could score without waiting for a miracle. Wednesday showed that the defense could avoid adding chaos to the pile.
So the question is not whether the Blue Jays are capable of beating Detroit.
They obviously are.
The question is why a team at 76-77 is still presenting capability like it deserves applause.
Capability is not the standard anymore.
Delivery is.
And over this series, Toronto did not deliver enough.
The take: stop celebrating proof of concept
The Blue Jays are fourth in the division. They are 4-6 in their last ten. Their winning percentage is .497. Their team OPS is .696. They have scored 619 runs, 4.05 per game, through 153 games.
That is the context for Wednesday.
Not joyless context.
Necessary context.
A 5-1 win is good. Scherzer’s line is good. The bullpen lines were good. The offense was good enough. The fielding column stayed clean.
All of that should be acknowledged.
None of it should be inflated.
Thursday is an off-day. Saturday brings the Texas Rangers, with Dylan Cease listed for Toronto.
There is no time left for the Blue Jays to keep proving they can play coherent baseball once every few days.
They have to prove they can stack it.
Wednesday showed the standard.
The Detroit series showed the failure to meet it.
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